Download - School of Management, KIIT University

ISSN 0974-2808 

Parikalpana 

KIIT Journal of Management 

V o l u m e - 9 (II) 2 0 13 

In this issue 

• An alternative Stakeholder Management Tool 

Srikant Kumar Bhadra 

• 

An Analysis of its Implementation in 

Pharmaceutical Sector 

Priyabrata Panda & Sovan Mishra 

• Brand Personality from Corporate Social 

Responsibility: A Critical Review of the 

Brand Image through CSR 

Diptendu Ghosh, Pratapaditya Ghosh & Biswajit Das 

• Indian Railway’s Renewed Vision: 

Inclusive and integrative growth through 

commercial focus and social commitment 

Biswajit Das & Nibedita Sahu 

• Corporate Social Responsibility: Engagement 

of IT Infrastructure in Mobilizing Community 

Shiv Sankar Das 

• 

Introducing Corporate Social Responsibility 

(CSR) to a spiritual and ‘superstitious’ India 

Ankur Joshi, Pawan Verma, Priyanka Dutt & Puneet Bindlish 

- Case Study Section 

• 

Kesoram Industries Ltd. Managing a Sustainable 

Supply Chain: A Case Study of BIRLA TYRES 

M. Pattnaik 

• CSR in TCS – A case study 

Priya S Mahapatra 

• 

CSR: Overcoming The Sustainability Challenge 

Arjun Singh, Pranaav S. Chandy & Angad Singh 

Theme-based Special Issue on 

Corporate Social Responsibility 

School of Management, KIIT University 

Bhubaneswar - India

Parikalpana 

KIIT Journal of Management 

[ISSN – 0974-2808] 

Board of Advisors 

Prof. N.L. Mitra 

Chancellor, KIIT University 

Prof. P.P. Mathur 

Vice Chancellor, KIIT University 

Prof. Ashok K Sar 

Dean, School of Management, KIIT University 

Members of Journal Committee, from SoM, KIIT University 

Biswajit Das 

Ipseeta Satpathy 

Pooja Mohanty 

Punyoslok Dhall 

Surbhi Kapur 

Editorial Board 

Artatrana Ratha, St Cloud State University, USA 

Ashish Dwivedi, Hull University Business School, Hull, UK 

B. K. Mohanty, Indian Institute of Management Lucknow, India 

Badar Alam Iqbal, Aligarh Muslim University, Aligarh, India 

Damodar Suar, Indian Institute of Technology Kharagpur – India 

Rajen K Gupta, M.D.I. Gurgaon, India 

Sailabala Debi, School of Management, KIIT University, Bhubaneswar, India 

Saswata Narayana Biswas, Institute of Rural Management (IRMA), Anand, India 

Sushanta Mallick, School of Bus. & Management, Queen Mary, University of London 

Wee Yu Ghee, University Malaysia Kelantan, Malaysia 

Editor 

R. N. Subudhi 

(Professor, School of Management, KIIT University) 

e-Mail: editor@ksom.ac.in 

© School of Management, KIIT University, Bhubaneswar 

Published by Dean, School of Management, KIIT University, Bhubaneswar. 

Printed at: Print-Tech Offset Pvt. Ltd., 

Disclaimer: The publisher and or editors cannot be held responsible for errors or any consequences arising out 

from the use of information contained in this journal. The views and opinions expressed do not necessarily reflect 

those of the publisher and editors.

Parikalpana 

(KIIT Journal of Management) 

Vol-9 (II) 2013 

Editorial 

CONTENTS 

• An alternative Stakeholder Management Tool Conflict- 1-11 

Consensus-Collaboration 


• SA 8000 : An Analysis of its Implementation in 12-21 


Priyabrata Panda & Sovan Mishra 

• Brand Personality from Corporate Social Responsibility: 22-33 

A Critical Review of the Brand Image through CSR 

Diptendu Ghosh, Pratapaditya Ghosh & Dr. Biswajit Das 

• Indian Railway’s Renewed Vision: Inclusive and integrative 34-46 

growth through commercial focus and social commitment 

Dr.Biswajit Das & Nibedita Sahu 

• Corporate Social Responsibility: 47-59 

Engagement of IT Infrastructure in Mobilizing Community 


• Introducing Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) to a 60-64 

spiritual and ‘superstitious’ India 

Ankur Joshi, Pawan Verma, Priyanka Dutt & Puneet Bindlish 

- Case Study Section 

• Kesoram Industries Ltd. Managing a Sustainable Supply Chain: 65-75 

A Case Study of BIRLA TYRES 

M. Pattnaik 

• CSR in TCS – A case study 76-81 


• CSR: Overcoming The Sustainability Challenge 82-90 

Arjun Singh, Pranaav S. Chandy & Angad Singh

List of Reviewers (in alphabetic order) 

We are grateful to the following Professors, who had gone through the articles, 

received for this issue of Parikalpna and had carefully reviewed the same: 

Prof. A.K. Mohapatra, Som, KIIT University 

Prof. Ashish Dwivedi, Hull University UK 

Prof. BCM Patnaik , Som, KIIT University 

Prof. Hiral Shah, St. Cloud State University 

Prof. Parimal Vyas, MS University Baroda 

Prof. Prabir Patnaik, Utkal University 

Prof. Rajnish Mishra, IIM-Roorkee/ JIIT-U Noida 

Prof. Rudra P. Pradhan, IIT Khargpur 

Prof. Sailabala Devi, Som, KIIT University 

Prof. Sumita Mishra, Som, KIIT University 

Prof. UN Dash (Prof. DU, Utkal University) 

Prof. WeeYu Ghee, Malaysia 

Parikalpana: The KIIT Journal of Management, is indexed with:

Editorial 

Questions on quality of Management Research continue to receive critical comments. 

Just a couple of months back, this year, Prof. C Gopinath (Suffolk University, Boston) 

wrote on ‘Research Blues’, in leading journals (in April, 2013). Referring Lary Zicklin 

(Knowledge @ Wharton) and other analysts, Gopinath gave example of research works, 

where findings were questioned (or even reversed by subsequent studies). ‘The difficulty 

of establishing cause and effect relationships between variables due to the many variables 

that can affect the situation, and the inability to keep all the other intervening variables 

constant, or trying to control them. Thus, conclusions are provided with various caveats 

about the weaknesses of the study and the limitations on generalisability’. 

‘Gate keepers such as journal editors and reviewers ask for a lot of details about 

the research methodology and analysis from those who submit a manuscript to get a 

sense of the reliability and validity of the data, analysis and the conclusions, but even they 

rarely have the time or the inclination to ask for the raw data and run the analysis 

themselves’. 

‘The educational institutions should not join the game of pursuing research just 

because it helps the reputation or ranking of the institution. The majority of institutions 

should realise that they may make a better contribution to society focused on education, 

which is not the same as research, and which involves paying attention to teaching and 

making education affordable to those who need it’. These observations by those analysts, 

including Gopinath (Businessline, April 28, 2013 & in http://www.freenewspos.com/news/ 

article/c/204738/social/research-blues-in-social-sciences), are of course valid and critical. 

But should we not leave/ provide research and researchers some independent space? 

Though chance of misuse (or less use) of some research is there, Universities are certainly 

expected to create research environment; may be a guided/ enabled environment. 

Research journal is thus a part of such platform or environment. 

A very interesting (and humble) contribution of a journal (HBR, May 2013 issue) 

can be cited here, in the context of ‘Research Blues’. The journal has the interesting 

column/ feature, entitled ‘Defend your Research’. It probes, interviews and listens to the 

same researcher/ writer, who might have published some ‘hard to believe/ accept’ research 

findings. In the last issue, it has taken the interview of a researcher-professor, who tried 

to correlate the ‘size of signature’ of CEO (of an organisation) and his/ her ‘success 

rate’ and ‘management style’. Any body can say this as stupid or non-sense correlation 

study. Professors had taken months and studied over 100 globally reputed organisations/ 

CEOs. They find: smaller the signature, better a CEO, more caring, trusting and 

successful!!!. Hard to believe. Easy to put it in Lary Zicklin’s commented category. But, 

should we reject the work out-right or give a scope and listen to what the researcher has 

to say? When some body cries out ‘ureka’, we should not jump hurried to call the chap 

a mad fellow. 

The next issue of Parikalpana comes out as a special, theme-based issue, devoted to: 

Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR). Articles are already selected and edited, from among 

those, presented in our last National Management Convention (NMC).

Parikalpana - KIIT Journal of Management, Vol-9(II), 2013 

An alternative Stakeholder Management Tool 

Conflict-Consensus-Collaboration 

1 


Asst. Manager (CSR and R&R) 

Aditya Aluminium (Hindalco) 

srikant.bhadra@adityabirla.com 

ABSTRACT 

This paper is based upon the concept of stakeholder theory and integrated corporate 

social responsibility. The paper has tried to present how interest of stakeholder has 

been integrated in to the business interest through CSR. Community and community 

groups have been taken as the main stakeholder in the process of formulating and 

implementing Corporate Social Responsibility, which we usually mean in the context 

of a social and philanthropic responsibility of a company. The crux of the paper is to 

present two cases where in one case presents corporate social responsibility in 

operational risk management approach and other one presents the CSR in a value 

creation approach. Both the approaches in this paper has been presented as an 

integration approach, one is integrated with business objective to manage the risk, 

mostly in reactive way, where as the other one is integrated with core business value 

chain and purpose in proactive way. Both approaches are equally necessary and if 

can be combined in an integrated development approach becomes effective and 

sustainable. 

Introduction 

The relationship between business 

and the society has been studied since 

decades with outcomes being influenced 

by the prevailing economic paradigm at a 

specific point in time. The idea that 

business has duties towards society and 

more specifically towards its identified 

constituent (or stakeholder) is widely 

acknowledged. Adam Smith’s 1976 opus, 

The wealth of Nation is considered as 

the landmark of modern capitalism (smith, 

1991). Smith’s proposition states that when 

business is free to pursue profits and 

efficiency, it eventually benefits the 

common good, that is, it serves both its 

interest and those of society at best 

(Lantos,2001). Milton Friedman’s neo 

classical theory advocates on Smithian 

argument by explaining that profitability is 

the ultimate social responsibility of the 

business if done in an ethical way and in 

lawful manner. The classical view on CSR 

is mostly based on the neoclassical 

economic theory using notion such as the 

free market, economic efficiency and profit 

maximization, emphasizing on pure profit 

making view and wealth creation for 

company and shareholders. This theory

2 

Parikalpana - KIIT Journal of Management 

says that pursuing socially responsible 

objectives by the manger may impair their 

performance in achieving the organizational 

objective i.e profitability and on other hand 

it believes that there are Government and 

other civil society organization to look after 

the socially responsible action which the 

managers are not equipped to perform. 

This is known as shareholder model of 

CSR, emphasizing more on profit making 

view. However the concept of CSR has 

gone through a process of evolution within 

a shareholder-stakeholder debate. In 

contrast to shareholder model, the 

stakeholder theory is based on the notion 

that beyond shareholders, there are several 

agents with an interest in the action and 

decision of companies. Stakeholders are 

the groups and individual who benefits from 

or are harmed by, and whose rights are 

violated or respected by corporate action 

(Freeman, 1998). In addition to 

shareholders include creditors, employees, 

customer, suppliers and the communities 

at large. The stakeholder theory asserts 

that companies have a social responsibility 

that requires them to consider the interest 

of all parties affected by their action. 

According to Porter and Kramer (2002) 

Friedman’s argument has two implicit 

assumptions: social and economic 

objectives are separate and distinct and 

by addressing social objectives companies 

don’t provide greater benefit than is 

provided by individual donors. But the 

dichotomy between economic and social 

objectives is a false one because 

companies do not function in isolation from 

the society in which they operate. In long 

run, the social and economic goals are 

inherently conflicting but integrally 

connected. Freeman et al (2004) correctly 

consider that the shareholder singleobjective 

view is a narrow view that cannot 

possibly do justice to the panoply of human 

activity that is value creation and trade i.e 

business. Thus there are two basic concept 

of CSR, one is narrowest concept which 

includes economic responsibility alone and 

other one is the wider concept which 

includes more than one dimensions of social 

responsibility aiming to satisfy all the 

stakeholders that directly or indirectly 

influence business environment. However 

the concept of integrated corporate social 

responsibility is the widest and most 

comprehensive concept of CSR. The 

responsibility is built into the business 

strategy of the company and it includes 

responsibility towards all stakeholders. 

According to A. Carol (1991) CSR is 

presented through four dimensional 

pyramid; economic social responsibility, 

legal, ethical and philanthropic social 

responsibility. Base of the pyramid is made 

out of economic responsibility, while the 

legal, ethical and philanthropic 

responsibilities arise out of it. This means 

the corporation must earn profit to carry 

out its philanthropic responsibilities. K. 

Krkac presented the concept of CSR as 

a house of social responsibility. The first 

three responsibilities make up the three 

level of house, while the fourth, 

philanthropic responsibility, makes up the 

roof of the house. In the context of


3 

stakeholder theory, the concept of 

integrated CSR is presented by four 

concentric circles, where the inner most 

circle represent the core business 

responsibility i.e profit making, this inner 

circle is wrapped with legal and ethical 

responsibility while the outermost circle is 

the philanthropic responsibility. 

Essence of the Paper 

The paper is essentially based upon 

the concept of stakeholder theory and 

integrated corporate social responsibility. 

There are many typologies and 

classification of the stakeholder of a 

business entity such as primary and 

secondary (Clarkson 1995) based upon 

the role of an individual or group and their 

influence or impact on health of the 

organization. The primary are those 

without whose continuing participation 

corporation cannot survive, these are 

shareholders, employees, suppliers, 

vendors, customer, communities and 

government. The secondary are those who 

are not in transaction with corporation and 

are not so essential for survival. These are 

media and civil society organization etc. 

However, the stakeholder in the range of 

primary, secondary and tertiary mostly 

based upon the extent to which an 

individual or group or an organization is 

being affected or benefitted due to 

establishment of Industry. In this way the 

employees, suppliers, vendors and 

customers are the primary stakeholder, 

community is secondary stakeholder as it 

is immediate to the primary stakeholder 

to get directly affected or benefited due to 

industry, at tertiary level Government, 

political organization and civil society 

organization are the stakeholder to 

influence the business environment of the 

company. The paper has tried to present 

how interest of stakeholder has been 

integrated in to the business interest through 

CSR. Here, community and community 

groups as the main stakeholder, have been 

taken, in the process of formulating and 

implementing Corporate Social 

Responsibility which we usually mean in 

the context of a social and philanthropic 

responsibility of a company. The crux of 

the paper is to present two cases where in 

one case presents corporate social 

responsibility in operational risk 

management approach and other one 

presents the CSR in a value creation 

approach. Both the approaches in this 

paper has been presented as an integration 

approach, one is integrated with business 

objective to manage the risk mostly in 

reactive way, where as the other one is 

integrated with core business value chain 

and purpose in proactive way. Both 

approaches are equally necessary and if 

can be combined in an integrated 

development approach becomes effective 

and sustainable. The former approach is 

exclusive in nature where as the later is 

inclusive in nature, trying to create an 

equity in distribution of benefits due to 

industrialization across different section of 

stakeholder communities. The paper also 

tries to highlights the different CSR conflicts 

based on the perception and attitude of 

different stakeholder and how it can be

4 


addressed to have a participatory 

approach in implementing CSR. The 

section below throws light upon the CSR 

conflicts. 

CSR Conflicts and stakeholders’ 

perception 

The basic purpose of existence of any 

business entity is to improve the quality of 

life of the people, broadly called as 

stakeholder. However the communities 

who are in close vicinity of Industry and 

get affected due to process of land 

acquisition, loss of livelihood, pollution 

and many other direct and indirect impact 

of industry become the key stakeholder in 

the process. In the process of setting up 

or running a business unit or an industry 

and implementing it social responsibility 

there are few fundamental conflicts 

between the stakeholder and the 

corporation which is termed in this paper 

as CSR conflicts leading to a dilution in 

the spirit in carrying out social responsibility 

jobs. 

Community Vs Corporation 

For any industry as Friedman define: 

‘Profit making is the social responsibility, 

as it is the core objective of any business 

unit, based upon which corporation carry 

out other responsibility’. Profit making is 

the economic responsibility and is the base 

for legal, ethical responsibility, as depicted 

by Caroll in his CSR-pyramid structure. 

Hence any business manager has the 

perception: “we are here to make profit 

not to do any charity”, based on principle 

of pure profit making where little 

manipulation can be accommodated in the 

business strategy in the stakeholder 

dialoguing process. Corporations are not 

responsible for all the world’s problems, 

nor do they have the resources to solve 

them all (Porter and Kramer: 2006, pp13). 

Corporations are not inexhaustible source 

to address every problem of society. In 

contrary to this approach, J.N Tata says, 

community is the very purpose of 

existence of Industry. Community on other 

hand who are affected due to establishment 

of Industry has the ambiguity of being ever 

neglected by the company as company 

often fails to meet their expectation. The 

feelings of marginalization due to loss of 

their livelihood assets or a transition from 

Have to have not and inability to cope up 

with changing economy due to 

industrialization make the people often 

arrogant and build many expectation and 

aspiration among people. Community 

often looks local Industry as sole 

destination of employment for generation 

after generation as they were living on the 

same piece of land for generations together, 

on other hand no industry can afford to 

give employment to all aspiring people from 

the community in a competitive business 

environment. Similarly people always 

expect the corporation must be at their 

disposal to address all issues related to their 

socio-cultural life such as health, education 

and infrastructure development forgetting 

Government as the key agent in the 

development process. The inherent feelings 

of being the son of soil make the people


5 

sometimes put their demand 

indiscriminately on industry. On other hand 

Corporation takes CSR as an undue 

expenditure instead of a social investment 

forgetting their obligation and generosity 

towards community for their innate 

contribution to Industry by leaving their 

soil. The other dimension is that the 

changing leadership and dynamics of 

different sociopolitical group often 

influence the corporation in its process of 

implementation of different development 

activities in the villages leaving bottom of 

societal pyramid at lurch, being excluded 

from the development process. 

Government Vs Corporation 

As per shareholder theory, 

Corporation or the business manager are 

there to earn profit for shareholders and 

the company while Government and other 

civil society Organization are there to take 

care of development issues of the 

community or society at large. Government 

on other hand perceive corporation as the 

major contributor and key agent in the 

development process of the state. 

Government being one of the key 

stakeholder in the process of 

industrialization perceive corporation as 

positive gap filler in the community 

development mostly in infrastructure 

development in the area of health, 

education and communication. 

Government and political organization 

often inadvertently impose developmental 

activities on corporate without realizing 

how these are going to benefit the common 

people, whether there is any other areas 

more inevitable that certain projects, what 

is the role of the government machinery 

and whether there is possibility of synergy 

between Government and the corporation 

in implementing development project etc. 

Corporation used to get pressurized from 

different political forces for favoring certain 

group of people in various ways, making 

CSR ultimately a social and political 

conflicts rather than a consensus for 

development. Thus the Corporation used 

to take development project or CSR as a 

conflicting business interest and risk 

aversion strategy instead of looking it 

as a responsibility or obligation or social 

commitment towards community. In this 

way corporate social responsibility instead 

of being a part of sustainable development 

process, is used as a tool for stakeholder 

management in the business management 

process. 

Civil Society Vs Corporation 

Civil society Organization plays vital 

role in development process, particularly 

in reaching the unreached that are often 

excluded from the mainstream due to lack 

of education, awareness and poverty. For 

several decades Corporations have been 

the target of several anti-industry 

campaigns by the civil society actor. This 

is pertinent to note that many CSOs view 

corporation as enemy (Heap; 1998 Yazji, 

2006) and strange bedfellows (Prickett, 

2003), and find it difficult to associate with 

them on ethical and moral ground. 

However, the present decade has

6 


witnessed a new trend in the relationship 

between civil society and Industry – the 

development of collaborative relationship, 

purpose of which ironically appears to 

benefit business’s image than the society. 

Civil society Organization like Government 

always perceive corporation as key 

contributor and donor in the development 

of the poor people. There are numerous 

organization supported by Trust and 

foundation of many corporate, like Tata 

Trust, to carry out their development 

interventions in poverty stricken pockets 

of India. Thus the relationship between the 

civil society organization and Industry is 

quite old in the development history. CSOs 

look corporate as a partner in their 

development intervention. However there 

lies a line of conflict in approaches of both 

the organization, the civil society 

organization claims, they are pro-nature 

and focus on development of people 

without any hazardous impact on nature, 

while on other hand Industrial activities are 

against the natural harmony. There are 

many instances in the past where there is 

a conflict between the interest of the civil 

society Organisation and the Industry on 

issue of negative and deleterious impact 

on environment and biodiversity. The local 

CSOs expect, corporate should extend 

their support to them in implementing 

development projects in the area so as to 

combat ill effect of industrialization and 

also to improve the access of people to 

better health, education and livelihood , 

whereas corporation always view CSOs 

as a conflicting agent in the stakeholder 

management process. In implementation 

of social responsible action, however the 

CSOs are the pioneer and have set many 

example of successful development 

intervention in partnership with the local 

Industry. The fact that social development 

being not the domain of business entity, 

they should look forward for a synergy with 

the civil society organization. 

Integrating Stakeholder’s Interest: 

CSR in green Field projects 

In the context of this paper, the 

case presents CSR as an outcome of 

conflicts, communication and consensus 

with the stakeholder.CSR in a green 

field project is different as it involves 

socially sensitive issues like land 

acquisition and displacement. With an 

objective to smooth the process of 

setting up the industry, generally 

corporate integrate community or 

stakeholder’s interest however often in 

response to community’s needs and 

reaction. This may be termed as 

conservative model of CSR in green 

field project to gain trust and 

confidence of the people. 

The area adjoining Sambalpur and 

Jharsuguda can be characterized as 

backward in all the development 

parameter, however in early 2000, the 

setup of industry like Vedanta and Bhusan 

in the vicinity had brought some change in 

the economic perspective of the area, 

creating new avenues of employment for 

the people. But there was still stiff 

opposition of people for further process


7 

of industrialization in the area due to 

various reason, mostly attributed to ill 

experience of Hirakud Dam displaced 

people for not being compensated 

adequately, lack of confidence on 

Government machineries in the stringent 

land acquisition process and fear for not 

being able to cope up with changing 

economy due to loss of agriculture. In the 

process, there were changes in the village 

dynamic and leadership creating mostly 

three categories of stakeholders within the 

community. The first category “people 

who are at bottom of pyramid” perceive 

Industry as a cause of their vulnerability 

due to loss of land and agriculture, remain 

in apprehension of being marginalized due 

to livelihood insecurity. They have usually 

opposed industry but remained passive. 

Restoration of livelihood and access to 

better health and education services are 

the basic need they thrust upon that 

Industry should provide to them. The 

second category “people at top of the 

pyramid” who have some positive and 

savoring experience with existing Industry, 

have the ability to influence the business 

environment of the company and have 

resources to participate in development 

process due to industry set up and 

perceived Industry as a boon for their 

economic prosperity, however act as key 

stakeholder to influence the decision of 

company in any developmental 

intervention in the village. They often use 

the people of bottom of pyramid as a shield 

for them to arm twist the project authority. 

They always expect better employment, 

health and education for their children 

through Corporation. The third category; 

“socio-political group” who often take the 

cream of development due to Industry 

through acting a as a balance between two 

other categories of community 

stakeholder. The decision related any 

developmental activities in the villages are 

mostly taken by them. Thus within different 

conflicting groups of stakeholder 

community, corporate social responsibility 

of Industries has always acted as a 

communication tool to build trust and 

confidence with the stakeholder while 

addressing existing development issues in 

the area. The expectation of stakeholder 

is mainly built on three issues, such as 

existing developmental gaps mostly in the 

field of infrastructure in the villages, adverse 

impact of industry on local community and 

people’s perception based on assumed or 

perceived benefits from company. In 

response to the stakeholder’s expectation, 

companies are taking three areas of 

intervention, infrastructure development, 

health, women empowerment etc. 

Companies are involved mainly spending 

their CSR budget on construction of CC 

road, community halls and school building 

in the villages, conducting health camps 

and providing free medicine. They are also 

renovating ponds and installing tube wells 

and supplying drinking water during water 

scarcity in summer. However, all these 

development efforts are putto build the 

initial relationship with the community and 

gain their confidence to smooth the project 

activities. Although the development is

8 


happening mostly in terms of infrastructure 

development, the people who are at 

bottom of the society are largely excluded. 

Although the wage availability and cash 

income has increased, however challenge 

is whether that is sustainable after the 

construction job of the company is 

over.The case represent a beginning of 

building a platform for the development of 

people, however there is need of 

collaboration to have an inclusive growth 

of the people as Porter and Krammer 

(2006) rightly said Corporation are not 

responsible for all world’s problem and 

solve them all. CSR in isolation cannot 

bring development of people to cope with 

changing economic climate. 

Integration of stakeholder’s interest 

with business value chain: Integration 

with business value chain. 

In this paper, ‘BILT-Harsha 

community development project’ has 

been taken as the case representing 

Corporate social responsibility 

integrating the interest of stakeholdercommunity 

with business leading a 

sustainable development process for the 

poor and marginal farmers in Jeypore 

of Koraput district. The project was 

primarily focused on creating alternate 

livelihood opportunities for people in 

the periphery villages, so as to reduce 

the pressure on local Industry (Bilt) for 

employment of people living in 

periphery villages. This is a case of 

Conflict-consensus and cooperation 

among all stakeholders to proactively 

respond to the need of the community 

in a sustainable way. 

Harsha Trust has collaborated with 

Ballarpur industries limited (BILT), under 

their CSR initiative, to improve the quality 

of life of the families residing in the villages 

around their SEWA paper mill at Jeypore 

subdivision of Koraput District in South 

Orissa. The collaboration began in the year 

2002, since then, Harsha Trust has been 

working on livelihood enhancement of the 

poor community around Sewa paper mills. 

The initiative which started as a community 

development programme in 10 villages has 

expanded to 150 villages covering 3000 

families. 

Harsha trust started initial intervention 

with promotion of women Self Help 

Groups (SHGs) with poor tribal families 

around the Sewa paper mill in year of 

2002. Initially there was little apprehension 

among the community people regarding the 

interventions, however with consistence 

efforts from the professionals of Harsha 

trust, the apprehension turned to a long 

standing relation based on trust and 

commitment. In 2003, Hasha trust started 

taking intervention on livelihood through 

SHGs bank linkage program. The initial 

intervention was mostly to make people 

bankable with the local grameen bank 

(Regional Rural Banks) and help them to 

get loans from the bank to timely apply 

inputs in their paddy cultivation, for which 

they used to take loan from local money 

lender with high interest rate, mostly in form 

of agricultural produces. By end of 2003,


9 

about 60 SHGs were formed and Harsha 

trusts started taking vegetable cultivation 

with the families in small patch of their 

homestead to generate cash income for the 

families and in summer 2004, maize was 

taken as the major intervention in upland 

which was used to remain fallow or grown 

with small millets, after exposure visit to 

Umarkote of Nabarangapur District. 

Within 2003 to 2005 all these efforts were 

counted as experimentation with different 

livelihood intervention such as improved 

paddy cultivation, vegetable and maize 

cultivation, Banaraja poultry, goat rearing 

etc. At that point of time the district 

administration was having reservation to 

support the SHGs promoted by Harsha 

trust as it was supported by paper mill, 

however after lot of efforts, in 2005, one 

group got linked with SGSY program to 

start the dairy. The experience was not 

encouraging due to many reason mostly 

attributed to the selection of breed. In mid 

2005, with support of Bilt, 3 units of 

poultry farms started, however the 

intervention needed a scale. Harsha trust 

convinced the local administration and 

bankers to go for an exposure trip to 

PRADAN and after that exposure visit the 

local banks agreed to finance for poultry 

under SGSY, thus in 2006 poultry started 

taking momentum with active participation 

of local banks and administration. In 2006- 

07 financial year, the number of unit 

reached at 85 farms and a poultry 

cooperative was registered under Odisha 

Self Help Cooperative Act. By 2012, 

there are 185 families involved in this 

activity. The activiy took a lext leap when 

SDTT (Sir Dorabji Tata Trust) supported 

Harsha trust to set up its hatchery in 

Rayagada under ownership of the 

Cooperaive and the poultry as a livelihood 

opportunities brought a revoltionary cahnge 

in developmental perspective of the area, 

reulting in replication of the activities in the 

neighbouring dristricts of Koraput by 

supports of banks and government. 

On the other hand, success of maize 

was replicated with many other families. 

The mere coverage of 15 acres in 2004 

was quickly spread to coverage of about 

100 acres in 2006, resulting in establishing 

a linkageof maize production with poultry 

farming through a setting up a feed mill with 

support ftom Bilt and DRDA, Koraput. 

In year of 2006, as Bilt proposed, Harsha 

trust integrated its agriculture intervention 

with pulp wood plantation on marginal land 

which was lying almost unused and people 

used to lease it out to local money lender 

for eucalyptus plantation, the raw material 

for paper industry. The intervention started 

with 200 acres of plantation in 2006 with 

support from Bilt. The cooperative was 

also formally registered under Orissa Self 

Help cooperative Act in the year 2008 to 

further expand the activity and 

institutionalize the intervention. The pilot 

project on agro-forestry was initially 

supported by Ballarpur Industries Limited 

(BILT) and had been guided by Harsha 

Trust at the field level. ASA agencies limited 

provided loan and technical support to the 

cooperative. The loan was given to the 

cooperative at 8%, which subsequently

10 


passed on the loan to the Joint Liability 

Groups (JLGS) of 5 to 10 farmers at 9% 

and the JLGs to the farmers at 10%. A 

farmer takes up plantation in one or two 

acres of eucalyptus plantation in its own 

degraded land by availing loan through the 

cooperative. 

After completion of three planting 

seasons (2006, 2007 and 2008) covering 

844 acres of eucalyptus plantation; the 

cooperative approached NABARD to 

support for expansion of this intervention. 

Looking at the opportunities and quality 

of plantation, NABARD readily 

sanctioned a loan of Rs209 lakh and grant 

of 20 lakh under their Umbrella Project 

on Natural Resources Management to 

take up 1000 acre of eucalyptus plantation 

in June 09.Nabard project is contingent 

upon the buyback guarantee from BILT 

for all the plantation that the cooperative 

raises and grant from BILT to meet the 

administrative cost of the cooperative for 

five years. There is a tripartite agreement 

between the cooperative, BILT and 

Harsha trust where BILT has provided 

assurance to buy all the pulpwood at Rs 

1500/ton or the market price whichever 

is higher, would support administrative 

cost of cooperative for next five years and 

Harsha Trust would provide support to 

build the capacity of the cooperative in 

terms of its governance and operation. 

There are now more than 2200 families 

involved in this programme and have 

taken up eucalyptus plantation in 3300 

acres. 

Thus CSR which was started with few 

families in 2003 created such impact in lives 

of people, creating real value for the 

community and the corporation in a 

sustainable way. 

If the participation of Bilt, Community 

and Government and banks together in 

terms of financial contribution to the CSR 

project is plotted in graph, this will look 

like this, 

The graph speaks CSR is not just tool to respond conflict or is not an image building exercise 

rather it is a platform for collaborative approach for sustenance of corporate and community.


11 

Conclusion 

Corporate Social responsibility has 

many facets of developmental 

perceptive. Both the cases present two 

dimensions of the CSR and its impact 

on life of people. There are many hurdles 

in implementation of social responsible 

action with the community and meet their 

expectation. Corporate social 

responsibility is often looked as a 

unidirectional approach, i.e from 

company to the community, that is why, 

in most of the CSR led development 

program, the participation of the 

community is not very common. People 

as well as the government used have high 

expectation from the company to do the 

CSR mostly in form of Grant in Aid kind 

of approach, for which there is big 

question of sustainability in all CSR 

program. So there is need of active 

participation of the Government in the 

form of formulating policy and guidelines 

to implement CSR in a development 

approach. Similarly the company should 

look at building social and human capital 

as well. And the community should look 

company as catalytic agent to the 

development rather than a parallel 

system to Government, where in they 

have to participate actively and take the 

ownership. The first case while 

representing CSR a tool to pacify the 

stakeholder’s conflict, the other one 

brings solace for us by representing CSR 

as an approach to sustainable 

development and inclusive growth. Thus 

CSR is not the manifestation of conflict 

rather a consensus and collaboration 

of all key stakeholders of the companycommunity, 

civil society Organisation 

and the Government for sustainable 

development of people. 

Reference 

F. Nedica, F.Vladimr 2011; CSR in 

context of Stakeholder Theory; 

Economics and Organization Vol. 8, No 

1, 2011, pp. 1 - 13 

Manuel Castelo Branco & Lúcia 

Lima Rodrigues 2007; Positioning 

Stakeholder theory with debate on CSR; 

EJBO Electronic Journal of Business 

Ethics and Organization Studies; Vol. 12, 

No. 1 

F. Wayne 2008, Stakeholder 

Participation and Corporate Social 

Responsibility; researchbank.rmit.edu.au 

B. David P 2005; Corporate Social 

Responsibility and Social entrepreneurship; 

Journal of Economics & Management 

Strategy; September 2007, Vol. 16, Issue 

3, pp: 683-717 

•••

12 


SA 8000 : 

An Analysis of its Implementation in 


ABSTRACT 

Priyabrata Panda 

Research Scholar, Ravenshaw University, Cuttack 

pandapriyabrata@rocketmail.com 

Sovan Mishra 

Research Scholar, Ravenshaw University, Cuttack 

sovanmishra90@yahoo.com 

The present empirical study reveals certain interesting facts about SA 8000. The 

study is conducted among the field workers of pharmaceutical sector. This study is 

aims at diagnosis of different contents of SA 8000 and to analyse the implementation 

of SA 8000 among the field workers of pharmaceutical sector. A sample of seventy 

respondents from fifteen companies is drawn purposively for the study. A questionnaire 

of eighteen questions is sent to each respondent and their reactions are well observed. 

The questionnaire is analysed through appropriate statistical tables, charts and 

diagrams. This study portrays the working life of field workers of pharmaceutical 

sector of Odisha. Moreover present research work has explained the problems which 

are facing by the employees of such sector. In the concluding part valuable suggestion 

are made for better implementation of such social accountability standard. 

Key Word: Accountability, Standard, SA 8000, Field Worker. 

Introduction: 


(CSR) is the continuing commitment by 

business to behave ethically and 

contribute to economic development 

while improving the quality of life of the 

workforce and their families as well as 

the local community and society at large. 

The success of the business also largely 

depends upon its CSR. The importance 

of corporate social responsibility has 

increased to significant extent since last 

decade. As a result different guidelines, 

parameters and standards for 

implementation and execution of CSR 

strategies have been developed which are 

Global Reporting Initiatives (GRI) 

(1997), AA-1000(1999), Social 

Accountability-8000, United Nations 

Global Compact (2000), OECD 

guidelines for MNCs, (1976/2000), Caux

SA 8000 : An Analysis of its Implementation in Pharmaceutical Sector 

13 

Round Table (CRT), Global Sullivan 

Principle (1999), ICCR guidelines for 

measuring business performance etc. In 

this study only Social Accountability (SA) 

8000 is analyzed. 

Social Accountability (SA) 8000 is 

an international certification standard. It 

influences organizations to develop, 

maintain and apply socially acceptable 

practices in the workplace. It was created 

in 1989 by Social Accountability 

International (SAI), an affiliate of the 

Council on Economic Priorities. The 

standard is based on the principle that 

ensuring workers rights and well being 

which is an investment in human resource 

that leads to a healthy and sustainable 

workplace for all.(Shukla and Pattnaik - 

2012). 

SA 8000 is viewed as the most 

globally accepted independent workplace 

standard. It can be applied to any 

company, of any size, worldwide. SA 

8000 certification addresses issues 

including forced and child labour, 

occupational health and safety, freedom of 

association and collective bargaining, 

discrimination, disciplinary practices, 

working hours, compensation, and 

management systems. 

SA 8000 : Implementation 

Requirements 

1. Child labour 

The company shall not engage in or 

support the use of child labour. 

The company may employ young 

workers, but where such young workers 

are subject to compulsory education laws, 

they may work only outside of school 

hours. Under no circumstances shall any 

young worker’s school, work, and 

transportation time exceed a combined 

total of 10 hours per day, and in no case 

shall young workers work more than 8 

hours a day. Young workers may not 

work during night hours. 

2. Forced and Compulsory labour 


support the use of forced or compulsory 

labour as defined in ILO Convention 29, 

nor shall personnel be required to pay 

‘deposits’ or lodge identification papers 

with the company upon commencing 

employment. 

3. Health and Safety 

The company, bearing in mind the 

prevailing knowledge of the industry and 

of any specific hazards, shall provide a safe 

and healthy working environment and shall 

take adequate steps to prevent accidents 

and injury to health arising out of, 

associated with or occurring in the course 

of work, by minimizing, so far as is 

reasonably practicable, the causes of 

hazards inherent in the working 

environment. The company shall appoint 

a senior management representative 

responsible for the health and safety of all 

personnel, and accountable for the 

implementation of the Health and Safety 

elements of this standard.

14 


4. Freedom of Association & Right to 

Collective Bargaining 

The company shall respect the right 

of all personnel to form and join trade 

unions of their choice and to bargain 

collectively. The company shall, in those 

situations in which the right to freedom 

of association and collective bargaining 

are restricted under law, facilitate parallel 

means of independent and free 

association and bargaining for all such 

personnel. 

5. Discrimination 


support discrimination in hiring, 

remuneration, access to training, 

promotion, termination or retirement 

based on race, caste, national origin, 

religion, disability, gender, sexual 

orientation, union membership, political 

affiliation, or age. 

6. Disciplinary Practices 


support the use of corporal punishment, 

mental or physical coercion, and verbal 

abuse. 

7. Working Hours 

The company shall comply with 

applicable laws and industry standards on 

working hours. The normal workweek 

shall be as defined by law but shall not on 

a regular basis exceed 48 hours. 

Personnel shall be provided with at least 

one day off in every seven-day period. All 

overtime work shall be reimbursed at a 

premium rate and under no circumstances 

shall exceed 12 hours per employee per 

week. 

8. Remuneration 

The company shall ensure that 

wages paid for a standard working week 

shall always meet at least legal or 

industry minimum standards and shall be 

sufficient to meet basic needs of 

personnel and to provide some 

discretionary income. The company shall 

ensure that deductions from wages are 

not made for disciplinary purposes, and 

shall ensure that wage and benefits 

composition are detailed clearly and 

regularly for workers; the company shall 

also ensure that wages and benefits are 

rendered in full compliance with all 

applicable laws and that remuneration 

is rendered either in cash or check form, 

in a manner convenient to workers. 

Review of Related Literature 

Becchetti and Constantino (2006) 

used a comparison approach in their study, 

conducting a survey of 120 Fair Trade 

certified and non-certified fruit farmers in 

Kenya. They reported that certified 

farmers appear to have greater satisfaction 

with prices and incomes, greater crop 

diversification, and higher food 

consumption and dietary quality than noncertified 

farmers. 

Social Awareness and Voluntary 

Education (SAVE) (2002) opined that 

SA8000 standards have made 

tremendous impact on the working


15 

conditions of the workers in the SA 8000 

certified companies. SA8000 have 

provided an opportunity to the workers 

the right to organize. This is a key and 

valuable input of SA8000 standard in the 

companies. According to Richard Hewitt, 

Member of the European Parliament 

(2002), “SA8000’s experience in the 

field offers valuable lessons to all those 

working to turn corporate social 

responsibility words into action. M. J. 

Hiscox, C Schwartz & M. W. Toffel 

raised question on proper execution of 

SA 8000. These authors ponder over 

whether this code represents substantive 

effort to improve working conditions or 

merely symbolic efforts that allow 

organisations to score marketing points 

and counteract stakeholder pressure by 

merely filling some paperwork. A Shukla 

and A Pattnaik (2012) has made a study 

on impact of SA 8000 certification on 

contract workers. They made a 

questionnaire and one hundred twenty 

worker’s response to such is observed. 

The authors found that with the 

implementation of the standard improved 

the life of the workers in company with 

better working conditions. 

Objectives of the Study 

This empirical analysis is made to 

reach the following objectives. 

‣ To diagnose different contents of 

SA 8000. 

‣ To analyse the implementation of 

SA 8000 among the field workers of 

pharmaceutical sector. 

‣ To dig out whether the concern 

companies are providing the benefits of SA 

8000. 

‣ To find out whether the concern 

employees are aware about such 

standard. 

Research Methodology 

Research methodology renders a 

ways and means to conduct the study. It 

gives the roadmap to continue the work. 

Present study includes a sample size of 

fifteen pharmaceutical companies. 

Seventy field workers of such companies 

are respondents for the study. Data is 

collected from both the primary and 

secondary sources. Different research 

articles on such area are referred. Journals 

of ICAI, ICSI are also followed. A 

questionnaire is prepared and reactions 

of respondents are observed. Different 

statistical tools, tables and diagrams are 

used for analysis of data. 

Analysis of Data 

Table 1 explains the name of the 

companies included for the study and the 

number of respondents from each 

company. More than one respondent is 

selected from each company because the 

field workers are working in different 

divisions under different divisional 

managers. This study includes the medicine 

representatives who are spread all over 

Odisha.

16 


Table 1: Name of companies and number of respondents 

Sl No Name of Company No of Field Workers (%) Sl No Name of Company No of Field Workers (%) 

1. Wallace Pharma 5(7.14) 9 Cardila 5(7.14) 

2 Mankind 3(4.29) 10 Cipla 7(10) 

3 Glenmark 3(4.29) 11 Dr Reddy’s 4(5.71) 

4 Alchem 4(5.71) 12 Lupin 4(5.71) 

5 Aristo 4(5.71) 13 USV 5(7.14) 

6 Pfizer 3(4.29) 14 Macleods 3(4.29) 

7 Bicon 6(8.57) 15 Ipca 6(8.57) 

8 Ranbaxy 8(11.4) Total 70 (100) 

Source: Data compiled. 

The above table shows total of fifteen 

companies and seventy respondents. 

Highest number of respondents belongs to 

Ranbaxy Pharmaceutical which is just 

above eleven percentage of total 

respondent. Lowest numbers of respondent 

belong to Mankind, Glenmark, Pfizer and 

Macleods which is just above four percent. 

Having 

knowledge 

Table 2: Knowledge about SA 8000 

(%) of 

response 

Having no 

knowledge 


response 

SA 8000 4 5.7 66 94.2 

Table 2 displays the poor knowledge of 

respondents about SA 8000. Even their 

company provides certain SA 8000 services 

but majority of them do not know the 

existence of SA 8000. In this present study 

only 5.7 percent respondents are aware 

about such standard and 94.2 percent do 

not know about SA 8000 requirements. 

Table 3: Working time requirement 

Working more 

than eight hour 


response 

Working in 

holiday 


response 

Yes 33 47.1 8 11.4 

No 37 52.9 49 70 

Can’t say Nil 13 18.6 

Total 70 100 70 100 

Source: Data compiled


17 

Table 3 here above represents the 

working hour requirements. 47.1 % 

respondents have reacted that they have 

no working hour. They have to wait and 

execute their duty without taking the 

number of hour in to their mind. They 

have never complained about such 

Table 4: Remuneration requirement 

arrangement because of the fear of the 

loss of their job. 52.9 % of sample units 

are working within the schedule time .In 

the other hand 11.4% units said that they 

are working in holidays, 70% of them are 

not said to work in holidays and 18.6% 

cannot say anything. 

Getting salary in time (%) Getting adequate salary (%) 

Yes 62(88.5) 13(18.5) 

No 8(11.5) 57(81.5) 

Can’t say Nil Nil 

Total 70(100) 70(100) 


The above table reveals that majority of 

sample units are getting their salary in time 

i.e. 88.5% and only 11.5% respondents 

are not satisfied with the timing of receiving 

their salary. On the other hand 18.5% 

respondents are satisfied with their salary 

and majority of workers are not satisfied 

with the amount of salary they are getting. 

Table 5: Suffering in Corporal Punishment 

Transfer (%) Undue influence (%) Verbal abuse (%) 

Yes 63(90) 59(84.3) 6(8.6) 

No 7(10) Nil 55(78.6) 

Can’t say Nil 11(15.7) 9(12.8) 

Total 70(100) 70(100) 70(100) 


Table 5 shows the corporal punishments 

which are suffered by employees. 90% 

respondents have given transfer notice 

which they think as punishment. While 

84.3% respondents are illegally 

influenced and 8.6% of total respondents 

are suffered with verbal abuse.15.7% and 

12.8% respondents unable to say 

anything about undue influence and verbal 

abuse.

18 


Table 6: Discrimination at work place 

Caste (%) Religion (%) Age (%) Sex (%) 

Yes Nil Nil 44(62.8) 16(22.8) 

No 70(100) 58(82.9) 20(28.5) 54(77.2) 

Can’t say Nil 12(17.1) 6(8.5) Nil 

The above table portrays certain sensitive 

issues regarding discrimination at 

workplace. Discrimination regarding caste 

is nil which is well satisfactory. But 

regarding religious discrimination, 17.1% 

employees unable to say anything. 62.8% 

respondents are suffered in age 

discrimination. Senior workers seek 

respect from juniors. Discrimination 

regarding sex is high among these workers. 

Figure 1: Free to join association or union 

Figure 1 shows that majority of total 

respondents are free to join or form 

association or union which is 71.4%. On the 

contrary 17.1% respondents are influenced 

to join or form any association. While 11.5% 

employees can’t say anything. 

Figure 2: Safety and healthy environment requirements 

Source: Self compilation of data.


19 

Figure 2 reveals that 80% of respondents 

are satisfied with their working environments 

and 88.5% respondents have insured their 

health. Only 12.9% respondents have not 

satisfied with their working environment. 

Here 12.9% employees yet to insure their 

health. In addition 7.1% employees cannot 

give a rational view about their working 

environment. 

Findings and suggestion 

1) After conducting the case study on 

SA 8000 standards in 

pharmaceutical sector it can be 

said that everyone wants a better 

working standard but no one 

knows about the global guidelines 

and parameter for such and their 

employer also do not disclose 

anything about this. The company 

must educate their employees 

about regarding this social 

accountability standard. 

2) Moreover these companies need 

to take steps to implement 

SA8000 standard to improve the 

working life of its employees. The 

company may get the benefit of SA 

8000 in long run. 

3) SAI must take adequate steps to 

force these companies to 

implement better compensation to 

workers so that they receive 

remuneration sufficient to their 

survival. 

4) It is found that employees are 

forced to work more than eight 

hours even few are influenced to 

work in holidays. This practice 

should be checked by the concern 

company and employees must be 

awarded with fair justice. 

5) It is observed that few employees 

are not getting their salary in time. 

The company must fix the time and 

deliver their salary in the fixed time. 

6) SAI must take adequate steps to 

force these companies to 

implement better compensation to 

workers so that they receive 

remuneration sufficient to their 

survival. 

7) It is found that transfer is an easy 

instrument in the hands of authority. 

Transfer to distance places may 

force the concern employee to 

leave their job. Verbal abuse and 

unethical influence is a matter of 

concern also. These factors may 

negate the motive of these 

workers. 

8) This empirical study finds some 

female medicine representatives. 

22% respondents are 

discriminated by sex. Working in 

this field by female employee is a 

challenging task indeed. In the 

male dominated society female 

workers are discriminated to 

certain extent in this sector also. 

The company and the authority 

must provide a healthy and safety 

environment in which the female 

workers can work freely.

20 


9) This diagnosis revealed that 

majority of employees have health 

insurance and 80% respondents 

are satisfied with their current 

environment. This is a noteworthy 

point that companies are providing 

good working environment along 

with health insurance. 

Conclusion 

No doubt SA 8000 increases the 

social commitments of the companies. It will 

yield to company in long run. The companies 

should think in win-win basis to implement 

the social standard. It also enhances 

employee retention and reduces employee 

turnover. But the above study reveals certain 

serious facts which violate SA 8000 

requirements. The employees can’t do 

anything about it due to fear of losing their 

job. The international organisations should 

come forward to protect the interest of 

these internal stakeholders. It can be noted 

that SA 8000 gives freedom to join 

association or union. But this study shows 

that few employees are denied to join the 

association. This violates the basics of SA 

8000 which should be restrained. 

References 

Adam, A, M, M. & Rachman, more, 

D.2004, The methods used to implement 

an ethical code of conduct and 

employee attitudes, Journal of Business 

Ethics, pp-225-244. 

Barrientos, Stephanie and Sally 

Smith. 2006. The ETI Code of Labour 

Practice: Do Workers 

Really Benefit? Institute of 

Development Studies, University of 

Sussex. 

Be Schorner, T, & Muller. M 2007, 

Social standards towards an active ethical 

movement of business in developing 

countries, Journal of Business Ethics, pp- 

14-22. 

Bennear, Lori S. and Cary 

Coglianese. 2005. Measuring Progress: 

Program Evaluation of Environmental 

Policies. Environment 47(2):22-39. 

Coglianese, Cary, Jennifer Nash, and 

Jonathan Borck, 2008. Evaluating the 

Social Effects of Performance-Based 

Environmental Programs. Paper prepared 

for presentation at the Conference, 

“Dialogue on Performance-Based 

Environmental Programs: Better Ways to 

Measure and Communicate Results,” 

Harvard University Kennedy School of 

Government, March 11, 2008. 

Darnall, Nicole and Stephen Sides. 

2008. Assessing the Performance of 

Voluntary Environmental Programs: Does 

Certification Matter? The Policy Studies 

Journal 36(1): 95-117. 

Esbenshade, Jill. 2004. Monitoring 

Sweatshops: Workers, Consumers and the 

Global Apparel Industry. Philadelphia: 

Temple University Press. 

Gobbels, M & Jonker, J 2003, AA 

1000 and SA8000 compared; A 

systematic comparison of contemporary 

accountability standards, Managerial 

Auding journal, 18, 1.pp-54-58.


21 

Gobbels, M & Jonker, J 2003, AA 

1000 and SA8000 compared; A systematic 

comparison of contemporary 

accountability standards, Managerial 

Auding journal, 18(1.pp-54-58) 

Heckman, James J., Hidehiko 

Ichimura, and Petra Todd. 1998. Matching 

as an econometric evaluation estimator. 

The Review of Economic Studies 65(2): 

261-294. 

Shukla A. & Pattnaik A. 2012,SA 

certification- A boon for contract workers, 

case study in a navaratna CPSE,The 

Odisha Journal of Commerce and 

Management, May 2012,Vol III.pp 50- 

59, ISSN 0976-8599. 

•••

22 


Brand Personality from Corporate Social 

Responsibility: A Critical Review of the Brand 

Image through CSR 

Diptendu Ghosh 

Ph.D. Scholar, School of Management, KIIT University, Bhubaneswar 

diptendu_g_2000@yahoo.com 

ABSTRACT 

Pratapaditya Ghosh 

Jadavpur University 

pghosh792@gmail.com 

Biswajit Das 

School of Management, KIIT University, Bhubaneswar 

biswajit@ksom.ac.in 

The brand managers of companies keep on trying to ‘break the code’, to establish 

their brands as the most preferred or premium brands by reflecting on CSR in sighting 

trust. Though the managers are professionally trained and have years of experience 

on the job, they tend to forget the basics of CSR associated with brand management. 

To attain brand image lot of importance is given to measures like Brand Equity Index 

(BEI) and its allied attributes, which contribute to the BEI. But a few other measures 

also play equally important roles in deciding the position of brands, which are not as 

popularly known. 

Peter Drucker’s brand vitality, which is a measure of brand marketplace momentum, 

brand value perceptions, emotional connection to the brand and differentiation etc. 

also play dominant role. These attributes are inter-dependent and work in cohesion 

to present the brand to the customer as a personality. This effect is known as brand 

personality. The article is based on the critical thinking of the relevance of brand 

personality to the CSR of any company, which the brand managers need to think in 

a long-term manner and work out on the attributes. These attributes as a result 

would work in cohesion and complement mutually to make a strong brand personality 

through CSR applications, which would lead to a long-term customer image. 

Introduction 

In today’s world of intense 

competition and ever-changing conditions 

in a dynamic market, managers in various 

organisations leave no stone unturned to 

create a strong brand. Each of them is 

working very hard to maintain and

Brand Personality from Corporate Social Responsibility: A Critical Review ..... 

23 

increase the market share of their products. 

They are constantly trying to increase the 

brand equity of their respective brands 

because a strong brand will enable them 

to have a stable position in the market. This 

is where the concept of brand personality 

comes in. Brand personality plays an 

important role in creating brand equity. The 

CSR initiatives of a company play a very 

important role towards the development 

of a brand personality. 

In the words of David Aaker, brand 

personality is the “set of human 

characteristics associated with a brand”. 

It refers to the emotional relationships 

formed by customers with the brands they 

use. Brand personality is a perception from 

the customer’s viewpoint. It is subjective 

in nature. Just as opinions differ from 

person to person, similarly the brand 

personality varies from one customer to 

another, across regions and different 

sections of society. It can also undergo 

change over a period of time. If we 

consider the example of the brand Maggi 

noodles, it brings out different memories 

in different people. For some it reminds 

them of their college days, when they had 

Maggi in hostel; for a few it is easy to take 

around and does not require high degree 

of culinary skills; whereas for others it is a 

comfort food almost like a reliable friend. 

The customers have developed a special 

bond with the brand. 

According to the United Nations 

Institute for Training and Research website, 

“Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) 

can be understood as a management 

concept and a process that integrates 

social and environmental concerns in 

business operations and a company’s 

interactions with the full range of its 

stakeholders.” Since, the concept of brand 

personality actually refers to 

personification of a brand—it is expected 

by customers that the brands they use 

behave like responsible and socially aware 

citizens. CSR activities should not be 

mistaken for philanthropy. In this era of 

business, undertaking CSR initiatives is not 

a choice for a brand. In order to survive 

and gain acceptance in the market, a brand 

needs to project itself as a socially 

responsible corporate citizen. 

It is generally believed that a 

customer will purchase a product, which 

has traits similar to his/her own personality 

(Russell W. Belk, 1988) or someone the 

customer aspires to be (Naresh K. 

Malhotra, 1988). Every rational human 

being wants to be associated with positive 

traits like compassion, honesty and 

sincerity. So, they will also want to use 

brands which enhance the above traits of 

a customer. For example, customers are 

more inclined to choose brands which are 

environment friendly, funds some cause 

towards the upliftment of the poor or 

develops products without testing it on 

animals. 

Even though brand personality is 

developed from the customers’ viewpoint; 

the company can communicate or project 

a particular personality to the customers. 

The company through its people, its brand 

advertisements, packaging and most

24 


importantly through its CSR activities can 

present a certain personality for a brand. 

Over time, the company can also change 

this brand personality through various 

means if it so desires. 

As Kevin Keller had stated in his 

brand equity model, the general questions 

that a manager would want to address are: 

• What sort of person would this 

brand be? 

• What might your relationship be 

with this person? 

• Now, why do you think this person 

is like this? 

When managers try to answer these 

questions they decide what kind of a 

personality would their brand to be when 

introduced to the market. The key is to 

treat the brand just like as if it were a 

person. Managers need to think if the 

brand were a person, what gender it 

would be of, what style of clothes he/she 

would wear, the places he/she would visit, 

books he/she would read, it would be 

understated and elegant or loud and 

friendly and many other such aspects. A 

person gets the respect and acceptance 

of society when he/she abides by certain 

societal and cultural norms and is morally 

upright. This applies to a brand as well. A 

brand cannot remain viable if it engages in 

activities which are disproved by society 

at large or is considered morally 

inappropriate. For example, Foxconn 

Technology Group is a Taiwan based 

company which assembles the iPhone and 

the iPad”which are products under the 

Apple brand. Recently it was accused of 

running sweatshops in China. After this 

news broke out Apple immediately started 

reviewing the labour standards in China. 

Consumers are very sensitive towards 

these aspects of a brand; they might refrain 

from using Apple products if they know 

that the employees of the company are illtreated. 

Hence, Apple took action very 

quickly to prevent any further damage. 

It is important to focus on the cultural 

aspect of brand personality (J. Aaker, 

1997). Perception of brand personality 

varies across different cultures. The 

symbolic use of brands differs across 

cultures. For example, in countries like 

China where collectivism is prevalent; a 

brand which is seen as being conventional 

and conforming will be successful in such 

a country. On the other hand a country 

like the United States celebrates the 

expression of individuality, freedom and 

non-conformism; so a brand which comes 

across as being creative and carefree will 

be successful there . A political leader of a 

poor country, where the citizens do not 

even get two square meals a day, is 

severely criticized for using luxury brands 

in public. That is why to maintain an 

approachable, simple and humble image, 

such political leaders always refrain from 

using brands exuding luxury and exclusivity 

in public. Animal rights activists will not use 

leather products and people who support 

this cause will refrain from using similar 

products. That is the reason why most of 

the time in the brand packaging it is 

mentioned that the particular product of


25 

the brand is eco-friendly or is developed 

without animal testing. 

The home country of a particular 

brand will always enjoy a special treatment 

from the citizens of the country. The 

domestic customers treat the brand as ‘one 

of their own’ as if the brand were a human 

being. For example, when Bharti Airtel, 

an Indian telecom company wanted to 

acquire South African telecom company 

MTN it could not be successful. It was 

mainly because the South African 

Government wanted to maintain the ‘South 

African character’ of the brand. The 

customers of South Africa had formed an 

emotional relationship with the brand; they 

did not want to part with it by selling it off 

to a foreign company even if it meant 

sacrificing a few benefits and privileges. 

Brand Personality Dimension Model 

of J. Aaker 

In the paper titled “Dimensions of 

Brand Personality” (1997), Jennifer Aaker 

devised a model to explain and measure 

brand personality through five different 

dimensions. In the study, to identify the 

dimensions of brand personality, 631 

subjects rated 37 brands on 114 

personality traits. The results pointed out 

that customers perceived brands as having 

five distinct dimensions of personality, each 

divided into a set of facets: 

• Sincerity (down-to-earth, honest, 

wholesome and cheerful) 

• Excitement (daring, spirited, 

imaginative and up-to-date) 

• Competence (reliable, intelligent 

and successful) 

• Sophistication (upper class and 

charming) 

• Ruggedness (outdoorsy and 

tough) 

A confirmatory factor analysis was 

also carried out in the study where 180 

subjects rated 20 brands in 10 product 

categories and 42 personality traits 

provided additional support in the study. 

In the end she concluded that “the 

framework of brand personality 

dimensions, as represented by the 42-item 

Brand Personality Scale, is reliable, valid, 

and generalizable.” 

Traits were measured using a five 

point Likert scale (where 1 is equivalent 

to not at all descriptive and five is 

equivalent to extremely descriptive) where 

subjects were asked to rate the degree to 

which the 114 personality traits described 

a particular brand. The researcher mainly 

used positively valenced traits because 

brands mainly evoked positive associations 

and the ultimate objective of the study was 

to find out why customers would purchase 

a particular brand. This implies that the 

traits used are positive and desirable traits 

(http://faculty.unlv.edu/angeline/ 

3710BrandPersonalityClose.pdf). 

The traits used in each of the facets 

are mentioned below : 

• Cheerful (cheerful, sentimental and 

friendly) 

• Daring (daring, trendy and 

exciting)

26 


• Spirited (spirited, cool and 

young) 

• Down-to-earth (down-to-earth, 

family-oriented and small-town) 

• Honest (honest, sincere and real) 

• Wholesome (wholesome and 

original) 

• Imaginative (imaginative and 

unique) 

• Up-to-date (up-to-date, 

independent and contemporary) 

• Reliable (reliable, hard working 

and secure) 

• Intelligent (intelligent, technical and 

corporate) 

• Successful (successful, leader and 

confident) 

• Upper class (upper class, 

glamorous and good looking) 

• Charming (charming, feminine and 

smooth) 

• Outdoorsy (outdoorsy, masculine 

and Western) 

• Tough (tough and rugged) 

The traits mentioned above are 

desirable to become a socially responsible 

and morally upright brand. Figure 1 given 

below is a diagrammatic representation of 

J. Aaker’s model of Brand Personality 

Dimensions. 

Figure : 1 - Brand Personality Scale


27 

Determinants of Brand Personality 

Mentioned below are the factors 

which are commonly believed to determine 

brand personality. 

Characteristics of the product: The 

product features play an important role in 

shaping up a brand’s personality. The key 

areas are given as follows: 

‣ Main use and users of the 

brand– the personality of a brand 

will vary depending on whether it 

is used by men or women, the 

youth or the aged, the rich or the 

poor, students or professionals, by 

the city dwellers or the rural 

residents, the season in which it is 

used and many other factors. It also 

depends on where it is used, 

indoors or outdoors and the 

purpose for which it is used. For 

example, the soap brand Lux is 

considered feminine because it is 

mostly used by women, Gillette 

brand on the other hand is 

considered masculine. 

‣ Price–the price of the product 

decides whether the brand will be 

labelled elitist or whether it will be 

up for mass consumption by the 

commoners. For example, the 

luxury brand Mercedes Benz, is 

perceived to be exclusive, 

snobbish and classy mainly 

because it is unaffordable to most 

people. A Cadbury Dairy Milk 

chocolate is not very expensive 

and available to most people, so it 

is considered approachable and 

friendly. 

‣ Packaging– the way the product 

of a particular brand is packaged 

is a key determinant of its brand 

personality. Visual objects have a 

strong impact. Moreover, the 

package often stays for longest 

with the customer, so forming 

opinions about the brand by 

looking at the packaging is natural 

extension of that fact. For 

example, the packaging for brands 

used by youths is bright and 

splashy which conveys a lot about 

the brand. On the other hand 

packaging for brands used by the 

aged is subtle and sober so that it 

does not clash with the brand 

personality. Often the customers 

look out for a mark in the package 

which states that the product is 

eco-friendly. So, the brand often 

needs to project itself as being 

environment friendly. 

Advertisements: The way a product is 

promoted plays a very decisive role in 

developing the personality of a brand. 

When a customer sees an advertisement 

for any brand, he/she starts forming 

associations with the brand based on the 

visuals. For example, when Tata Docomo 

was first introduced in the market, its 

advertisement was very refreshing and its 

jingle was being hummed by all who heard 

it. Even though it was a new brand, it had 

formed a personality in the minds of the 

customers very soon. It was young, almost

28 


like a new kid on the block and held a lot 

of promise. So a lot of young college 

students started switching to this network, 

because it was some brand they could 

relate to easily. 

Most companies tend to choose their 

brand ambassadors with a lot of care. 

They try to make sure that the celebrity 

representing the brand is a right match for 

it. For example, cosmetic companies tend 

to change their brand ambassadors often, 

because they want fresh young faces to 

represent their brand. Similarly, sports 

companies try to rope in successful sports 

stars to endorse their brand; so that the 

brand is also looked upon as successful and 

competent. It is also seen that when a brand 

ambassador is embroiled in some major 

controversy or has trouble with the law due 

to their personal behaviour, the company 

terminates their contract and brings 

someone new to represent the brand. This 

shows how much influence the brand 

ambassador has on the brand personality. 

The Amul brand does not have a 

celebrity as its brand ambassador; instead 

it has a cartoon character called the Amul 

girl representing it. It has been the brand 

ambassador of Amul for the last fifty years. 

This girl is chubby, cute, precocious, 

naughty and yet extremely adorable. So, 

when one thinks of Amul, the image of this 

girl constantly flashes in the mind. We can 

say that this girl is the brand personality of 

the Amul brand. 

The company logo is like the signature 

of the brand; it makes a brand authentic 

and also enhances its personality. A brand 

which has a classy and understated logo 

like Tata, will be viewed to have a different 

personality than Apple, whose logo is a 

half-bitten apple. 

Sponsorship: The kind of events or 

organisations sponsored or supported by 

a brand also adds to building its 

personality. Customers tend to associate 

the brand with the underlying features of 

that event or organisation. Beverage 

brands like Coca Cola and Pepsi are the 

main sponsors of sporting events like 

cricket or football. Hence, these brands 

come across as sporty, playful and rugged. 

Brands typically used by women sponsor 

fashion shows and beauty pageants. 

Hence, such brands are considered 

beautiful, delicate and pretentious. The 

‘Classmate’ brand of ITC supports 

education of underprivileged children and 

is looked upon as selfless and caring 

because of this CSR activity. 

Age of the brand: the period of time for 

which a brand has been in a market, 

determines whether it will be seen as old 

or young. IBM was the first producer and 

seller of computers in the market. Then 

after a couple of years Apple entered the 

market as a competitor to IBM and started 

producing and selling computers. One can 

view IBM as the old king and Apple as 

the young rebel. It is due to this reason 

IBM is considered being old and Apple 

as young. 

Some brands will always be seen as 

young or old because its main users belong


29 

to a definite age group. For example, 

Johnson & Johnson brand for baby 

products will always bring the following 

qualities to mind– innocent, adorable and 

cute. When a company is constantly reinventing 

a brand by changing the logo, 

advertisement or packaging, then the 

brand will always remain new and young 

in the minds of the customers. 

Overall corporate personality: Just as 

a parent can influence the personality of a 

child, similarly the personality of the 

company also has an effect on the 

personality of its brand(s). A company 

which acts like a good corporate citizen 

has a stable financial position, engaging in 

CSR activities and working within the 

framework of law is respected and earns 

the goodwill of its stakeholders. So, its 

brand(s) will also be associated with those 

qualities. In India, the Tata companies are 

respected and trusted by all. Hence, its 

brands always have an edge over others 

in the market because of the good 

corporate personality of their parent 

company. 

A company who has trouble with the 

law, is involved in unethical practices and 

has a poor financial position is looked at 

within caution. Psychologically customers 

tend to think that the brand(s) of such a 

company will also be dishonest, that is, will 

cheat them, by being of low quality. 

The people representing the parent 

company of a brand like management and 

employees contribute to shaping the brand 

personality. Facebook is owned and 

founded by the young entrepreneur Mark 

Zuckerberg. In public appearances he is 

always casually dressed and comes across 

as someone who is level-headed and a 

non-conformist. Similarly, the Facebook 

brand is like an extension of the personality 

of its owner-founder, defying conventions 

and informal. Azim Premji, Chairman of 

Wipro engages in a lot of philanthropic 

activities, the brand personality of Wipro 

is positively influenced due to this. 

Combining brand personality and 

corporate social responsibility 

Many companies around the world 

are using CSR related activities to leverage 

their brand and enhance their brand 

images. But the very act of combining the 

two in the real world can be difficult. When 

used with other promotion techniques, 

CSR yields the most effective results in 

terms of increased awareness and 

enhanced perception. 

CSR activities can also be embedded 

within promotional activities for this 

purpose. But managers need to look into 

the CSR-promotion fit. Research shows 

that low-fit initiatives negatively impact 

customer beliefs, attitudes, and intentions 

no matter what the firm’s motivation, and 

that high-fit initiatives that are profitmotivated 

have the same impact. 

Furthermore, customers consider the 

timing (proactive versus reactive) of the 

social initiative as an informational cue, and 

only the high-fit, proactive initiatives led 

to an improvement in customer beliefs, 

attitudes, and intentions.

30 


Importance of Brand Personality 

Understanding the brand personality 

is very important for managers because it 

is one of the factors influencing brand 

equity. Some of the reasons why the 

concept of brand personality is important 

are given below. 

Brand personality and CSR 

One of the major tools of promoting 

a brand is corporate social responsibility. 

Not only does it serve the purpose of 

promoting a brand name and bringing it in 

the spotlight but also elevate the brand 

perception in the customer’s mind. Benefit 

of CSR activities include improved 

financial performance (Johnson, 2003; 

Miles and Covin, 2000) 

CSR also cultivates the marketplace 

and improves the environment the business 

has to run in to a certain extent. The global 

market scenario is fast changing and 

customers now have a much larger basket 

of products and brands to choose from. 

Hence, for a business to thrive, the 

organisation has to establish a long term 

relationship with the customers. 

Indulging in CSR related activities 

gives the company a huge leverage to 

improve their brand image. Isolated 

activities may satisfy the immediate need 

of a societal problem and the company can 

term it as ‘CSR’ but they don’t have a 

lasting image in the customer’s mind and 

slowly these impressions fade away and 

die down in the clutter. For CSR to be 

successful in its entirety, companies must 

take integrated programmes, targeting the 

various aspects of the societal problems. 

CSR can be used as an alternative 

method to enhance the brand image and 

when used along with the other attributes, 

it will improve the brand personality and 

make it more ‘people and society friendly’ 

and hence more attractive to the present 

and potential customers. 

Facilitates understanding: The concept 

of brand personality help the managers 

understand better how their brands are 

perceived by customers. It helps 

companies to know whether their brand 

strategies are achieving the desired results 

and change it accordingly. For example, 

the Blackberry brand of cellular phones 

was traditionally used by business 

professionals. The brand was viewed as 

being formal, mature and serious. The 

company changed its advertisements a few 

years back to make the brand appealing 

to the youth. It can be said that the brand 

got a makeover so that more customers 

would be willing to buy it. So, in this case 

we see that company understood what the 

customers thought of the brand. The 

company could devise its strategies 

accordingly; it could either let the prevailing 

personality of Blackberry reign or it could 

choose to re-invent the brand. The 

company chose the latter option and this 

strategy has worked quite well for the 

brand. 

Inculcates brand loyalty: The emotional 

attachment which a customer forms with 

a particular brand makes the customer


31 

loyal to it. If we apply the concept of 

Maslow’s hierarchy of needs, after the 

basic want is satisfied the customer tends 

to escalate a brand to a higher level to 

satisfy his/her need for companionship, 

emotional attachment and self-esteem. 

When a customer forms a personal 

relationship with a brand, he/she will not 

easily give up on that brand even if the price 

fluctuates or new substitute products are 

available in the market. This behaviour 

ensures a steady demand for the brand in 

the market (Brand Personality Creation 

through Advertising, Ouwersloot, H. and 

Tudorica, A., 2001). 

Similarly, there are some brands 

which are symbols of high social status for 

their owners. No matter how high the price 

is there will always be customers willing 

to buy them. For example, luxury pen 

brand Mont Blanc is always desired 

because it stands for luxury and exclusivity. 

So, the people using it also like to make a 

similar statement or aspire to be seen 

possessing the same qualities. Such brands 

are held at a very high pedestal by 

customers. 

Personality is unique: One of the reasons 

we admire the famous personalities is 

because each one of them is unique. If 

anyone tries to impersonate a human 

personality everyone will be very quick 

to discover the fraudulent act. So, is the 

case with a brand. When a brand 

acquires the status of a personality, 

customers will be quick to spot any form 

of impersonation. 

Due to brand personality, a brand 

cannot be replaced easily. In fact over time 

it helps a brand to have a stronger presence 

in the market. It helps a company to 

maintain its market share and sometimes 

a brand can also be sold at a premium in 

the market because of its personality. It 

gives a company a relatively strong and 

stable position in a market. This helps the 

company to focus on other areas like 

improving organisational efficiency and 

expansion in other geographical regions. 

There are many companies which started 

off with one reliable and trusted brand and 

became giant corporations later on. 

Introduction of new products: When a 

brand has a certain established personality, 

it becomes easier for a company to 

introduce new products. The company can 

bring out new products, which complement 

the existing brand personality, under the 

same brand name. For example, Dove 

started off with offering soaps. It later 

introduced shampoos, conditioners and 

recently hair oil; all under the same brand. 

All these products complement each other, 

rendering the brand as being essentially 

feminine. 

Sometimes companies adopt a 

different approach. A company analyses 

the personality of its existing brand in the 

market. It may be observed that the 

personality of the brand is such that it is 

not able to reach out to all customers. So, 

in this case the company can introduce a 

brand with very different features to appeal 

to a specific section. For example, Titan

32 


introduced the ‘Fastrack’ brand of 

watches and bags, which came across as 

young, trendy and pocket friendly. As a 

result the youth could relate to the brand 

and started using its products. Titan also 

sells ‘Raga’ watches which are aimed at 

potential women customers. 

Social change: It is often seen that famous 

personalities are the brand ambassadors 

of various social causes. These famous 

personalities hold a lot of power, so they 

are likely to be more effective when they 

ask people to support a certain cause or 

organisation. Same is the case with a brand 

personality. When a trusted and respected 

brand appeals to a customer to support a 

worthy cause, the customer is often likely 

to support it. A well known brand 

personality can also help spread positivity 

and a feeling of well being. Many brand 

advertisements are made asking people to 

support various causes like environment 

protection, road safety or simply asking 

people to treat everyone with respect and 

kindness. CSR initiatives help to build 

connection with the consumers (Porter and 

Kramer, 2002) 

For example, ‘Tata Tea’ had launched 

the campaign called ‘Jaago Re’ to spread 

awareness about the rampant corruption 

in this country and urged the people to fight 

it. Here, a simple brand became a voice 

for seeking change in the system. This 

naturally made people associate the 

qualities like honesty, courage and 

leadership with the ‘Tata Tea’ brand. This 

‘Jaago Re’ campaign was both an 

advertisement and a CSR initiative. 

Conclusion 

Nowadays the customer is treated as 

the king. Companies are pursuing different 

strategies to woo customers to buy their 

products. In such a scenario the customer 

based concept of brand personality is of 

special significance. Managers need to 

have better understanding of the 

personality of their brand(s), the factors 

determining it and its importance. As 

already discussed, the main factors which 

determine the brand personality are the 

features and uses of the product sold under 

the brand, advertisements used to promote 

the brand, events or organisations promoted 

by the brand, period of time for which the 

brand is in the market and the overall 

corporate personality of its parent company. 

The brand personality helps a product 

to stand out in a fiercely competitive market, 

facilitates understanding of customers’ 

opinions about a brand; and helps to build 

brand loyalty among its customers. This 

ensures that a particular brand is able to 

maintain its market share and profitability 

which will enable the managers to devise 

better strategies and achieve their corporate 

goals. Corporate social responsibility not 

only promotes a brand and makes the 

marketplace more aware of the brand 

(brand awareness) it also brings along a 

‘humane’ character to the brand personality. 

It gives out the message to the potential and 

existing customers that the organisation is 

not just concerned with making profits but 

also cares about the marketplace, the 

society and the business environment on the 

whole.


33 

Reference 

Naresh K Malhotra “A Scale to Measure 

Self-Concepts, Person Concepts, and 

Product Concepts”, Journal of Marketing 

Research, Vol.18 (Nov 1981) 

Ouwersloot, H. & Tudorica, A. 

2001. Brand personality creation through 

advertising. Maxx Working Paper 

Series. University of Maastricht. 

Polonsky, Michael & Jevons, Colin 

(2006) Building a corporate socially 

responsible brand : an investigation of 

organizational complexity, in Patti, 

ANZMAC 2006 : pp.1-7, 

J. Aaker 1997; “Dimensions of Brand 

Personality”, Journal of marketing 

research Vol XXXIV (August 1997), 

347-356. 

Johnson, Homer H., 2003. “Does it pay 

to be good? Social responsibility and 

financial performance,” Business 

Horizons, Elsevier, vol. 46(6), pages 34- 

40. 

“Environmental Marketing: A Source of 

Reputational, Competitive and Financial 

Advantage”, M. Miles and J.G. Covin, 

2000. 

Russell W. Belk, 1988; “Possessions and 

the Extended Self”; The journal of 

consumer research, Vol 15, Issue 2 (Sept 

1988), 139-168. 

M.E. Porter and M.R. Kramer, 2002; 

“The Competitive Advantage of Corporate 

Philanthropy”, Harv Bus Rev. 2002 

Dec;80(12):56-68, 133 

http://faculty.unlv.edu/angeline/ 

3710BrandPersonalityClose.pdf 

http://www.fuelyourbranding.com/the-5- 

dimensions-of-brand-personality/ 

http://www.investopedia.com/terms/b/ 

brand-personality.asp 

http://www.moneylife.in/article/whoplayed-spoilsport-in-the-bharti-mtn-deal/ 

2256.html 

http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/03/ 

2 7 / u s - a p p l e - c h i n a 

dUSBRE82Q06420120327 

http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/ 

article/pii/S0148296305000342 

http://www.slideshare.net/sjhus/brandpersonality-presentation 

http://www.unitar.org/event/introductioncorporate-social-responsibility 

•••

34 


Indian Railways’ Renewed Vision: 

Inclusive and integrative growth through 

commercial focus and social commitment 

Biswajit Das 

KIIT School of Management, Bhubaneswar, India 

biswajit@ksom.ac.in 

Nibedita Sahu 

Research Scholar, KIIT School of Management, Bhubaneswar, India 

1281034@ksom.ac.in 

ABSTRACT 

Quoting from the “Vision 2020” report published by the Ministry of Railways in 

December, 2009, “In the coming decade, Indian Railways will continue to keep its 

service focus on the underprivileged and the poor, even as it expands its services for 

the more fortunate”, it is imperative to reflect on the fact that the Indian Railway’s 

implicit vision has gone through a metamorphosis of late which is to deepen and 

broaden the agenda of inclusive and integrative growth and increasingly become 

aware of their role as a catalyst of social and economic change. 

The phenomenal dependence of the travelling public in India on Indian Railway, 

which is at the threshold of a resurrection, is growing exponentially day by day. 

Today, it is the principal mode of transport which carries about 1.3 million tonnes of 

freight and 13 million passengers daily. It is the world’s largest single employer with 

about 16 lakh employees in its payroll. In its endeavour to become an excellent rail 

transport network of the world, the IR has helped launch itself towards a path of 

gigantic growth and development combined with holistic sustainability. 

Keywords: Indian Railway’s vision; Social responsibility; Subsidized fares; 

Profitability. 

Introduction: 

The Indian Railways, called as the 

“Life line to the Nation” (http:// 

indianrailways.gov.in) is 150 years old 

and is the biggest civilian employer in the 

world with over 17 lakh employees. It 

carries about 1.3 million tonnes of freight 

and 13 million passengers daily across the 

length and breadth of our country. 

Corporate Social Responsibility has 

always been an integral part of the Indian 

Railway’s functioning since ages. As per 

“Vision 2020” report published by the 

Ministry of Railways in December, 2009, 

“In the coming decade, Indian Railways

Indian Railway’s Renewed Vision: Inclusive and integrative growth through.... 

35 

will continue to keep its service focus 

on the underprivileged and the poor, 

even as it expands its services for the 

more fortunate. It will cater to the needs 

of the people across geographies and 

income strata as well as ethnic, religious 

and social diversities. It will better 

connect centres of commerce and 

industry, places of pilgrimage, historical 

sites, and tourist attractions, as also 

ports to hinterland. Railways also must 

reach the remote and underserved 

areas of the country to bring them into 

the national mainstream of 

development”. As outlined precisely in 

the VISION 2020 report, IR has four 

strategic national goals: 

• Inclusive development, both 

geographically and socially; 

• Strengthening national integration; 

• Large-scale generation of 

productive employment; and 

• Environmental sustainability. 

Though railways have been playing 

the role of an agent of cultural and socioeconomic 

catalyst since ages, of late it 

has realised its greater role of a conduit 

of inclusive and integrative growth. So this 

paper intends to evaluate the aspects of 

inclusive growth potential of IR under 

conducive environment which is socially 

and economically acceptable, with 

emphasis on the transport need of the 

poor not only by reduction of travel cost, 

but also through other holistic 

approaches. 

1.1 Corporate Social Responsibility 

In the “Corporate Social 

Responsibility Voluntary Guidelines”, 

2009 (Corporate Social Responsibility 

Voluntary Guidelines, 2009 Ministry of 

Corporate Affairs, India Corporate 

Week,Dec,14-21) http://www.mca.gov.in/ 

Ministry/latestnews/CSR_ 

Voluntary_Guidelines_24dec2009.pdf, it 

is emphatically conveyed to corporate 

India to voluntarily adopt CSR. The 

guideline is a forward-thinking, affirmative 

move by the government as is evident from 

its view that “CSR must not be seen as 

philanthropy and, in fact, needs to be 

merged with core business vision and 

goals.” So we can underscore the fact that 

Indian Railways have opened up in the 

right direction to achieve a holistic growth 

status in the near future. 

1.2 CSR - A synonym to Sustainable 

growth 

Quoting our former President A P J 

Abdul Kalam at an CSR award function 

organised by industry body Assocham 

(Ref:-Corporate Social Responsibility 

should be sustainable: APJ Abdul 

Kalam, PTI Dec 20, 2012, 10.29PM, 

IST, http://www.assocham.org/) “CSR if 

it is implemented with sustainability as a 

focus, then it enhances business 

sustainability, provides new opportunities, 

develops customer loyalty and improves 

stakeholder relationship,”. He added 

“sustainability has assumed greater 

importance as it directs towards 

conservation of the environment and

36 


building social infrastructure so that a 

part of the prosperity reaches the bottom 

of the pyramid and touches the lives of the 

citizens”. It should become an integral part 

of corporate strategy, management 

practices, business operations and product 

development”. 

1.3 The definitive Objective of CSR 

in Indian Railways 

Achieving the ideal equilibrium between Commercial Focus and Social Commitment - 

The renewed vision of Indian Railways as outlined in Vision 2020, MOR, 2009 

http://news.socialyell.com/540/social-responsibility/the-csr-dilemma/ 

Five cornerstones of CSR - From the quote of Dr A.P.J. Abdul Kalam


37 

1.4 The criticism about CSR 

There are some criticisms 

underscoring the not-so-healthy aspects of 

CSR, (http://www.corporatewatch.org/ 

?lid=2688 ) like it being a marketing 

publicity stunt to perk up reputations and 

gain popularity. It is sometimes indicted of 

being a smokescreen with no real bearing 

on the functioning of the organization. 

Contrary to above, CSR is accepted 

as part of the solution to make sustainable 

and human development a reality (Archie 

B. Carroll and Kareem M. Shabana). 

Taking a leaf from all favourable views 

about CSR, it has been observed that 

Indian Railway has embraced 

responsibilities towards the communities 

in which it operates as well as its 

commitment to safety. It also strives to 

have a positive impact through its business 

operations and with the way it engages with 

all its stakeholders like local communities, 

customers, suppliers, employees and 

society at large. 

Delving deep into the new found 

vision of Indian Railways, the vision is 

divided into 4 sub-visions, each of which 

are analysed from the applicability 

perceptive and on how IR has continuously 

reinventing itself to achieve those subvisions 

in each of the 4 categories within 

the organizational framework. 

Study of existing plans of Indian 

Railways towards achieving the 

renewed vision of Commercial Focus 

and Social Commitment.

38 

Parikalpana - KIIT Journal of Management


39

40 



41

42 



43 

3. Propositions to achieve better CSR 

orientation of Indian Railways in each 

areas of strategic importance 

3.1 Inclusive development, both 

geographically and socially 

• Encouraging and allowing more 

private participation in building 

private railway sidings connecting to 

mining areas, food processing plants, 

raw material production centres, and 

port areas. 

• To attract high-valued customers, IR 

can introduce “Happy Hour” concept 

in passenger as well as freight sector 

with variable charges for transport of 

human lives and goods. 

• “Aadhaar” number should be use by 

IR to maintain a database of 

customers and can segregate them on 

the basis of different criteria and 

develop schemes accordingly. 

• More ties with immediate 

neighbouring countries with track 

expansion, technology transfer, 

human resource transfer 

• Revamping the Customer Services 

arena which can be through devising 

innovative, customized, personalized 

service schemes for foreign travellers, 

niche business community class. 

• IR has to design sufficient incentives 

so that private profit seeking attains 

broader public interest objectives. 

So IR has to invest in socially viable 

and relevant projects even if they are 

not perceived as commercially 

viable. 

• Playing greater role in local 

communities by working on social 

projects that enhance the lives of local 

people. 

• Taking cue from Canadian Railways, 

Indian Railways can develop a 

collaborative process through which 

municipalities and the railway could 

work to reduce the costly intervention 

of courts and regulators in the 

resolution of community-based 

disputes and to engage other industry 

players in turning the model into an 

industry-wide standard. 

• Pursuing “good neighbour” approach 

to preventing, and resolving, disputes 

that can occur when people work and 

live too close to railway premises. 

• Just like Canadian Railway, Indian 

Railway can embrace corporate 

donations program called Community 

Connect is more sharply focused on 

community relations and aligned with 

the company’s business objectives. 

• All india campaigns like polio 

vaccinations, India heritage 

awareness, Anti alcoholism 

campaigns, HIV Aids, child labour, 

missing children and beggars, etc. 

may be conducted by using railway 

networks, infrastructure. 

• Idle accident relief medical vans of 

railways can be used for conducting 

health camps in rural areas. 

• Railways can invest in villages along 

the railway network or in other words 

can adopt some villages/pockets, 

under-nourished areas along its track.

44 


• Just like Canadian Railways, Indian 

Railways can once a year operate a 

Holiday Train that crosses the country 

stopping in communities along the way 

to raise awareness and collect money 

and in-kind donations, which are then 

distributed to the needy through food 

collection agencies. 

3.2 Strengthening national integration 

• Indian Railways need innovative 

approach for infrastructure 

development. Hinterland 

development of a port is one of them. 

Creating Special Economic Zones 

(SEZs) near ports, improving road 

and communication network for the 

hinterland of a port with partnerships 

with state government and other 

private organizations, will add 

meaningful development of the entire 

coastal region of the Indian peninsula. 

• Model like “Community 

Consultations”, an intensive social 

interface program followed by 

Canadian Railways to resolving 

disputes, improving relations and 

understanding between the industry 

and the public and helping the 

company improve its safety and 

environmental performance, can well 

be followed by Indian Railways. 

• Community Connect Line, a toll-free 

line is an important part of Canadian 

Railways community relations 

program which has allowed the 

company to identify emerging issues 

and address these more proactively 

than it has been able to in the past. 

Through such initiatives, Indian 

Railways can be closer to people and 

improve its image in the eyes of 

general public as well. 

• Tie-up with educational institutes for 

student transport schemes within India, 

which will contribute to the revenue as 

well as inculcate a sense of national 

integration among young Indians. 

3.3 Large-scale generation of 

productive employment 

• In any outsourcing activity, priority 

should be given to micro and small 

enterprises in the vicinity, which will 

contribute to employment of local 

man power. 

• Emphasizing on IT Conducive work 

environment resulting in instant 

communication in case of 

eventualities, hiring quality manpower, 

enhancement in deployment 

of IT applications in scale and scope 

in passenger and freight operation 

activities will result in increased 

earnings, reduced operating costs, 

effective utilization of human and 

capital resources and boosting of the 

image of Indian Railways 

• Initiating accounting reforms, 

adopting liberalised work culture, 

eliminating colonial practices in its 

functioning will attract best manpower 

to its fold. 

• Continue to improve ethical trading 

policies by encouraging suppliers to 

also adopt an ethical trading culture 

and infusing ethical endeavours in 

decision-making criteria. That will


45 

attract good private business 

enterprises to invest in railways. 

• Ensuring to devise policies that look 

after the welfare of staff and also 

ensuring they work in a safe 

environment in and out of the office. 

• Deploying a team of dedicated 

individuals to work on CSR and the 

railway-community interface. The 

CSR team should reintroduce into the 

job descriptions of employees and 

front line managers duties related to 

community relations and to train them 

in the tools needed for engaging and 

interfacing with stakeholders. 

• Indian Railway passes through many 

tribal areas and villages where many 

cottage industries, handicrafts 

business, local produce markets are 

located. IR can play a crucial role in 

collection of handicraft items, local 

produce and other artisan products 

which can be sold in towns for 

economic benefits thus playing an 

important part in reducing the 

connectivity issues of the rural areas 

to the market. 

4 Environmental sustainability 

• Rail track and vehicle assets have 

long lives and high recyclability at the 

end of life, which reduces raw 

material demand. Similarly 

Regenerative braking through Electric 

traction offers the potential for new 

energy source infused back into the 

track. The railways should not rest 

on its glory and continue to develop 

its “green” initiatives. 

• Proposal for replacing business travel 

with virtual meetings and 

presentations provides for potentially 

significant savings in terms of cost, 

time, manpower, energy. This should 

be encouraged in railway 

organizations. 

• Unutilized lands along railway tracks 

can be used for setting up plantation 

project of jatropha, from which biodiesel 

can be produced for 

locomotives. Railways can add to its 

carbon credits. This land can also be 

used for shelter for homeless, schools 

for girls, hospitals and other 

community purposes. 

• Railway infrastructure can be utilized 

for cause related marketing and 

advertising for corporate to ensure 

cleanliness and advocate other 

important social causes. Extensive 

use bio fuels and other renewable 

sources for supply inside coaches and 

for traction solar, biogas, Wind 

Energy, Solar Energy, Hydro Electric 

Power. 

• Religiously following pollution norms 

and aspiring for getting ISO 

certification in environmental 

protection, energy conservation 

issues. 

• Promoting the use of biodegradable 

materials and switch to biodegradable 

packaging in place of non 

biodegradable packaging in its 

passenger amenities arena. 

• Putting in place an eco friendly waste 

management system in station

46 


premises in addition to educating the 

masses and enforcing rules for waste 

disposal. 

• As part of CSR activities, taking 

initiatives to build toilets in villages 

through which railway track passes 

would discourage use of railway lines 

for the purpose. Investment in new 

technology for cleaner ecological 

outputs and recyclability of railway 

scraps. 

Conclusion 

Angel Trains of United Kingdom considers 

itself to be a good “Corporate Citizen” 

[http://www.angeltrains.co.uk/en/ 

corporate-social-responsibility/ ] and this 

fits with their strategic vision to be Britain’s 

leading rolling stock asset manager with 

their core value of integrity. Taking a leaf 

from UK Railways, Indian Railways could 

follow a holistic approach towards growth 

and expansion and aspire to be a 

“Corporate Citizen” and a “Role Model” 

for other corporate of our country. 

As we know, social responsibility is about 

going beyond regulations and providing 

good returns to shareholders, Indian 

Railways could see CSR as an evolutionary 

process wherein IR can look at its core 

businesses to evaluate how it can use its 

resources and special assets to contribute 

to sustainable communities. Railways can 

also raise awareness of CSR within the 

organization by providing an opportunity 

for employees, customers and communities 

to come together to help people in need. 

••• 

References 

Corporate Social Responsibility Voluntary 

Guidelines, 2009, published by Ministry 

of corporate affairs, GOI. 

Vision 2020, in December, 2009, 

published by the Ministry of Railways. 

http://www.assocham.org/events/recent/ 

event_751/Address-CSR-Summit-and- 

Excellence-Awards-2012.docx 

http://www.corporatewatch.org/ 

?lid=2688 

The Business Case for Corporate Social 

Responsibility: A Review of Concepts, 

Research and Practice, Archie B. 

Carroll and Kareem M. Shabana, 

International Journal of Management 

Reviews (2010), DOI: 10.1111/j.1468- 

2370.2009.00275.x, http:// 

www.academia.edu/419290/ 

The_Business_ Case_for_Corporate_ 

Social_Responsibility_A_Review_of_ 

Concepts_Research_and_Practice 

http://pib.nic.in/newsite/mainpage.aspx — 

Accessed on 21-1-13 at 6.00pm 

http://www.indiacsr.in/en/?p=6585 — 

Accessed on 21-1-13,at 4.00pm 

Indian Railways – Moving Towards 

Better Passenger & Goods Services, 

Akshey Kumar, http://pib.nic.in/feature/ 

feyr2001/fapr2001/f160420011.html 

http://www.angeltrains.co.uk/en/ 

corporate-social-responsibility/ 

http://eastcoastrail.indianrailways.gov.in/ 

http://indianrailways.gov.in


Corporate Social Responsibility: 

Engagement of IT Infrastructure in Mobilizing 

Community 

ABSTRACT 


PhD Scholar, Kiit University 

Shivsankardas85@gmail.com 

Corporate social responsibility can be key to the development of economy; 

implemented through IT infrastructure; linked to the community at large. The impact 

of V-SAT for educating and linking people to the mainstream through portals and 

kiosks; on the pricing of the field produce and agricultural products have eliminated 

the middle men in the transaction process of the business. There by it has given a 

genuine price to the farmer and for that matter the producer. All the government 

agencies need to exercise efforts to implement social responsibility employed through 

tech savvy approaches. This has none the less; already contributed substantially 

and is an ongoing process to mitigate poverty by catering profits and provide food 

security in the villages. Project Shakti, e-haats, e-chaupals models can be emulated 

and replicated by the corporate for the elevation of the economy in their multifaceted 

manner. This research article intends to encompass ideas pertaining to the application 

of IT Infrastructure for elevating the economy of a select village named Khantapara, 

which is deprived of the amenities of knowledge infrastructure. It hinges on the 

examination of field based study undertaken. 

Keywords: CSR, IT infrastructure, Community, Economy 

47 

Introduction: 

Corporate social responsibility can 

be key to the development of economy; 

implemented through IT infrastructure; 

linked to the community at large. The 

impact of V-SAT for educating and 

linking people to the mainstream through 

portals and kiosks; on the pricing of the 

field produce and agricultural products 

have eliminated the middle men in the 

transaction process of the business. 

There by it has given a genuine price to 

the farmer and for that matter the 

producer. All the government agencies 

need to exercise efforts to implement 

social responsibility employed through 

tech savvy approaches. This has none 

the less; already contributed substantially 

and is an ongoing process to mitigate 

poverty by catering profits and provide 

food security in the villages. Project 

Shakti, e-haats, e-chaupals models can 

be emulated and replicated by the 

corporate for the elevation of the 

economy in their multifaceted manner.

48 


This research article intends to 

encompass ideas pertaining to the 

application of IT Infrastructure for 

elevating the economy of a select village 

named Khantapara, which is deprived of 

the amenities of knowledge infrastructure. 

It hinges on the examination of field based 

study undertaken. 

I my words I can explain it as one of 

the interfaces for the development of our 

rural economy; implemented through IT 

infrastructure; linked to the community at 

large. The IT-KIOSK plays a key role in 

implement ting CSR. This helps in education 

and employment to the people. All the 

government agencies exercise efforts to 

implement social responsibility, employed 

through implementation of IT-Infrastructure 

and it is a concept where the organisation 

takes into account the interests of the 

society by taking responsibility for the 

impart of their initiatives on the people of 

that particular region, the farmers, the 

consumers and other stakeholders. Many 

Corporate Houses have taken CSR 

initiatives in our state and Northern Odisha 

as well. Training in Industrial Training 

Institutions ensures the unemployed youth 

to earn better livelihood with a promise that 

the candidates will be absorbed into the new 

industrial projects of the parent company. 

CSR in India 

In the case of India, scholars have 

traced the overarching role of tradition, 

spirituality, and respect in the evolution of 

CSR (Balasubramanian, Kimber, & 

Siemensma, 2005; Jose, Bandi, & Mehra, 

2003; Mohan, 2001; Sagar & Singla, 

2004). In its historical form, CSR in India 

has been dominated by a philanthropic 

approach consistent with the long-standing 

tradition of close business involvement in 

social development needs. More recently, 

CSR has received an impetus from the 

emergence of nonfamily businesses, 

“corporate will,” and government and 

public expectations (Mohan, 2001, p. 

111). Scholars note that Indian CSR is now 

an important part of the movement away 

from “rapid-growth, export-oriented, cost 

advantaged- focused strategies to longerterm, 

business development initiatives” 

(Balasubramanian et al., 2005, p. 82). The 

consideration of CSR in the Indian IT 

sector was motivated by the industry’s 

pivotal role in the country’s emergence as 

a strong global contender. India’s 

Department of Information Technology 

noted that the IT industry’s contribution 

to the national economic output has nearly 

tripled from 1.2% in 1997-1998 to 3.5% 

in 2003-2004. In fiscal year 2004-2005, 

the IT industry index outraced the market 

with a 45% jump, compared with the 

Bombay Stock Exchange’s 15% growth 

and NASDAQ’s 4% growth (Mitra, n.d). 

On a lighter note, one author quipped, 

“Thanks to Indian IT’s growth story, India 

is now better known for its techies and 

call agents rather than its elephants and 

snake charmers” (Mitra, n.d). 

Corporate sector in our country has 

spread the initiatives across the 20 states 

and Union Territories with Maharastra 

gaining the most from it, almost 38% of the

Corporate Social Responsibility: Engagement of IT Infrastructure in Mobilizing Community 

49 

CSR activities are focused in the state, which 

is then followed by 12% in Gujarat, 10% in 

Delhi and 9% in the state of Tamil Nadu. 

The ‘Eco Pulse on CSR for the 2009-10 

says in the month of June almost 300 

corporate houses has identified 28 different 

themes for the CSR activities, of which 

Community welfare tops the List followed 

by Education, Environmental, Health as well 

as Rural Development. India’s rural market, 

more specifically, is potentially huge at 720 

million consumers (>70 per cent of 

population), though constituting less than 30 

per cent of the country’s GDP (Annamalai 

and Rao, 2003). CSR needs to be 

understood in the following way; for making 

of profits there is displacements of poor 

people due to acquisitions of lands or due to 

operations impacting on livelihoods which are 

the means of survival which is further resulting 

in pollution of water, land and air (impact on 

natural resources). The investors and 

consumers are pressurizing the more on the 

business models for maximizing their returns 

which is giving an immense impact on the 

un-organized and low bargaining people. 

IT INFRASTRUCTURE IN 

BALASORE DISTRCT, ODISHA 

Demographic Situation of Balasore 

District, Odisha, India 

Balasore is situated in the Northern 

part of the state of Odisha having a sq.km 

of 3806, having 2 sub-divisions; 7 

numbers of Tahasils are present, 12 

numbers of C.D.Blocks, NAC represent 

3 , Grampanchayats represents 289 and 

there are 2952 villages in Balasore Dist. 

The total number of Inhabited & 

Unihabited villages present are 2587 and 

365 respectively in the Balasore Dist. The 

total population according to the 2011 

Census of the Balasore District is 2317419 

out of which the Male are 1184371 and 

Females are 1133046; (Ref: to District 

Hand Book Balasore; 2005-06). 

The Rural population in the District 

of Balasore is 1804140 and of Urban 

population is 220368 hence the Density 

of Population is 532 Per Sq.Kms. 

Balasore District has 2323 Numbers 

of Primary Schools out of which 1265 are 

Upper Primary with 3556 numbers of 

Teachers and 526 numbers Secondary 

schools with 4199 teachers; General 

colleges comprises of 2 Junior college and 

2 Degree college.(Ref; to Population 

Census 2011-12) 

The total Population in the area of 

Khantapara is around 121002 out of 

which 61589 are males and 59413 are 

females; the total no of skilled workers 

present in the region is 28509 out of which 

male is 26798 and female is 1711 ;(Ref; 

to Population Census 2011-12). 

A developmental initiative has been 

introduced to acquire the development of 

the community based in the village of

50 


Khantapara which is situated in the district 

of Balasore. An IT-Kiosk in the region has 

imparted knowledge of connectivity and 

enables the producer to exercise informed 

choice by connecting to local markets. 

Few of the initiatives are e-choupals- 

An OMFED Initiative, which has 

become a developmental approach, 

adding value to the Agricultural & Milk 

thus helping in improvement of the 

economy of the farmer. NESCO Kiosk 

has been set up in the villages of the districts 

of Balasore as a common service centre 

for payments of Electricity Bills; Many 

banks have started the scheme of Village 

takeover to improve the investment climate 

in the villages of Balasore Distrct; “e- 

Grama” a initiative by the Government of 

Odisha is under way to help the people in 

the district of Balasore; Placing of an 

IT-Officer in the collect orate office in the 

Balasore Dist has bought up acceleration 

in the process of IT establishments in the 

region. Project Sambhab has come into 

effect providing people a sense of relief 

during the time natural calamity. 

The study undertaken by Automobiles 

Company, TNS Automotive, India has been 

ranked second in global CSR, The study 

was focused on a public good will index 

and India received 119 points in the index 

against a global average of 100, Thailand 

was at the top slot with 124 points. 

IT Infrastructure (IT-KIOSK) 

In the year 2003-04 Govt of Odisha 

launched the self-help-scheme giving in the 

details of IT-Kiosk with an objective to 

create employment among the people of 

Balasore dist which is underway in the 

village of Khantapara. Initiatives such as 

special financial package were devised to 

promote the self-employment scheme by 

giving the subsidy for setting up IT-Kiosk 

in different regions of Khantapara region. 

This scheme focuses not only to provide 

self-employment opportunities but also to 

bring up the much waited IT infrastructure 

in the District of Balasore. 

The objective is to create the selfemployment 

opportunities for the 

unemployed educated youth in the village 

of Khantapara in the district of Balasore. 

According to the Govt statistics the 

scheme has continued till the year of 2006- 

07 with the target to open 1700 kiosks, 

and the targets fixed to open 400 to 500 

kiosks in the subsequent years to come. 

Who Can Set Up A It-Kiosk 

In Balasore region many unemployed 

youth with a minimum Matriculation level 

of education has set up a Kiosk. Women 

with more Qualification and Handicapped 

person gets a special consideration, Any 

Self-Help Group is also eligible for setting 

up of an IT-Kiosk if any member of the 

group have acquired the minimum 

qualification of HSC certificate. 

The entrepreneurs have arranged a 

sum of Rs.60000/- to 185500/- to set up 

a IT-Kiosk with an Subsidy of 25000/- 

given from the Govt side. 

The services offered by these Kiosks 

are E-mail, Internet Browsing, DTP work,


51 

Computer education, Photography, PCO 

etc are a part of the IT-Kiosk. 

Infrastructure Required For Setting 

Up An It-Kiosk In Balasore Distrct 

For setting up an IT-Kiosk we 

generally require a Floor area of say 200 

to 300 Sq.Ft Area, Hardware and 

Hardware and peripherals such as a 

Computer, a Dot Matrix/LaserJet/ 

DeskJet Printer, a Digital Camera , a Fax 

Machine , a Scanner, a UPS 0.5 KVA 

(LI), a Computer furniture, a PCO 

(Optional). A telephone link from BSNL 

or any private Internet Service Provider 

is available. Site Preparation like 

partitioning, painting, electrical wiring, 

electrical earthing is necessary, falseroofing 

and telephone connection is 

required for setting up of a successful IT- 

Kiosk. 

Training 

Training is provided to these 

entrepreneurs to develop their skills in 

handling the computers, Internet browsing, 

Peripherals etc; this type of training is 

provided by OCAC at its head office 

situated in Bhubaneswar, and other facility 

centres at Berhampur, Rourkela. 

Investment Required In Setting Up 

Of It-Kiosk 

The total Investment required 

considering the above Peripherals we get for 

a Computer (1 nos) we can take a sum of 

Rs/- 24,000 to 27,000, for a Dot Matrix/ 

Laser or a Deskjet Printer (1nos) we can 

assume a sum of Rs/- 4000 to 14,000, for a 

Fax Machine(1 nos) we take Rs/-15,000, 

For a Scanner (1nos) we take Rs/- 3,700 

to 12,000, For a UPS 0.5 KVA (LI) (1nos) 

we take a sum of Rs/- 2,700 to 7,900, for 

Furniture’s say for (8 nos) we take a sum of 

Rs/- 3,700 to 11,000. We also include other 

Investments such as Site Preparation, 

Inverter, Telephone, Internet Connectivity 

and Provisions for Contingencies we take 

an approximate investment of Rs/-7,000 to 

23,000; Rs/-11,000; Rs/-4,000; Rs/-7,000 

Respectively. Hence a we get a Total 

Investment required for setting of an IT Kiosk 

is in between Rs.80, 000/- to 1,27,000/- 

approx. 

SWOT Analysis of It-Kiosk In 

Balasore Dist 

If we analyse the Position of a IT- 

Kiosk in Balasore Dist we get different 

results such as considering the strength 

part there are some active and efficient 

entrepreneurs who has established the IT 

–KIOSK, and are trying to go beyond the 

boundaries of IT Kios. Here persons are 

adequately educated and they are well 

aware of the Maintenance part of IT- 

KIOSK. The district of Balasore has a high 

rural literacy rate and public is conscious 

about the usefulness of a kiosk. There is 

an efficient DRDA and highly effective Zilla 

Parishad and Panchayat Samiti. Now 

coming to the weakness part we see that; 

there are inadequate field staffs to share 

more knowledge for establishing an IT- 

Kiosk in the region, unwillingness of 

people for opening a IT-Kiosk due to the 

mindset of people, there is a lack of

52 


departmental & inter-departmental 

coordination, Taking other aspects like 

water logging, lack of irrigation and poor 

quality roads are the major problem in rural 

areas, as a result people are not showing 

interest to avail the use of IT-Kiosk. More 

delay in receipt of grants for development 

programmes from Govt has bought a 

loophole in the opening of IT-Kiosk thus 

bringing in a breakup of Planning & 

Coordination in developmental procedure. 

Even the Rate of Return is not satisfactory 

as compared to the Investment made. 

Taking the opposite side; considering the 

Govt Schemes like MG NREGS, GGY, 

and IAY etc, are being implemented but 

in slow pace; the 73rd Constitution 

Amendment and devolution of power to 

Panchayati Raj Institutions has resulted in 

development of the society but 

establishment of a IT-kiosk brings the 

threat of Political Interference, there is 

corruption at different levels during the 

programme implementation; Intra- village 

conflict based on party politics is delaying 

the implementation of the Project in the 

region. 

Infrastructure Related To 

Manufacturing Industry 

Details of Small scale Industries, 

Cottage Industries, Handloom Industries 

present in the area of Balasore Dist as per 

2003-04; 

TABLE-1 

2001-02 2002-03 2003-04 

A) SMALL SCALE INDUSTRY 

Total no of SSI units 225 225 264 

Total Capital invested (Rs. In Lakh) 629.94 817.16 525.48 

Employment Generated (in No) 955 1044 1164 

B) COTTAGE INDUSTRY 

No of cottage industry Setup 1300 1506 1129 

Total capital invested (Rs. In Lakh) 197.2 325.02 185.19 

Employment Generated (in No) 2219 2474 1859 

C) HAND LOOM INDUSTRIES 

Total Capital Invested (Rs.In Lakh) NA NA NA 

Production (in Lakh sq.mt) 3.78 3.88 NA 

Employment Generated (in No) 3038 2620 NA 

Source: Directorate of Industries, Cuttack; Directorate of Textiles, Bhubaneswar; Directorate 

of Handicrafts & Cottage Industries, Odisha.


53 

IT - KIOSK & Energy-A Snapshot of 

Balasore Dist 

Energy: 

Energy is one of the most important 

inputs for economic development and an 

important aspect in the life of people. In 

Balasore district 2443 villages out of 2586 

(inhabited) villages (94.47%) which were 

electrified in the end of 2005. Govt. of 

India has implemented RGGVY (Rajiv 

Gandhi Grameen Vidyutikaran Yojana) 

since 2007 to provide electricity to all rural 

house hold in the states within the 

calculated time frame for Five years. 

BGJY (Biju Gram Jyoti Yojana) has been 

setup in different district to cover villages 

which are not included under RGGVY; 

The table represents Block wise 

Number of Villages to Targeted for 

Electrification and Setting of NESCO 

Kisok. 

TABLE-2 

NO-OF VILLAGES TO BE SET UP WITH NESCO KIOSK ( JAN SEVA KENDRA) 

BLOCK Un-Electrified De-Electrified Electrified TOTAL 

Bahanaga - - 159 159 

Balasore 16 20 211 247 

Baliapal 5 6 183 194 

Basta - 13 282 295 

Bhograi 6 3 311 320 

Jaleswar - 34 174 208 

Khaira 17 - 321 338 

Nilgiri 6 9 121 136 

Oupada 23 - 133 156 

Remuna 9 7 236 252 

Simulia - - 155 155 

Soro - - 157 157 

TOTAL 82 92 2443 2617 

Source: RGGVY website. 

NESCO, North Eastern Electricity 

Supply Company of Odisha has 

implemented IT-Kiosk as “JAN SEVA” 

which will collect Electricity Bill and will 

provide Valid Receipts on Behalf of 

Nesco; People are using this service 

and are getting Rebates on the calculated 

bill. 

Placing of an IT-Officer; 

The IT development came into effect 

with the recruiting of a District Informatics 

Officer by NIC at Balasore in 2001. Since 

then most of the IT related works of allied 

office are done throughout the district with 

the help of district Collectorate, are taken 

up and covered successfully. The aim of

54 


NIC is to develop the IT culture within 

the administration at district level. With the 

change of time, IT being an integral part 

of the common human being, Government 

has taken the policy to bring information 

to common man. To make it practically 

possible and promote the same concept 

NIC has giving stress on 

Computerization of Citizen Centric 

Services and helping district administration 

for E-Governance. 

E-Choupal, The Concept 

e- Choupal is a concept which 

undertook a noble approach by going into 

purchasing directly from the farmers by 

bypassing the local markets which are 

(called mandis) which are dominated by 

Middlemen, it is an internet Kiosk, a virtual 

market place where farmers can transact 

directly with other people. They have their 

own choices and subsequently having a high 

profit margin on their products; here the 

computer operator called as a sanchalak 

allow farmers to get use of technology even 

though they are computer illiterate; here the 

process involves as the farmers carry a 

sample of their produce to a local kiosk 

and they receive a spot quote from the 

sanchalak and if the farmer accepts the 

quote then the product can be sold directly 

to a collection centre where they are paid 

within 2 hours. The most important benefits 

arise from these concepts is that the lead 

time for receiving payments is 2-3 hours 

rather then 2-3 days, and transparency in 

the system. Today the e-choupal initiative 

comprises 6400 choupals, transforming the 

lives of over 3.5 million farmers, in 38 500 

villages in nine states of India. By 2010, the 

company has set a target coverage of 20 

000 choupals for 10 million farmers in 100 

000 villages, transacting $2.5 billion in 

business; (From Corporate social 

responsibility through knowledge leadership 

in India; ITC Ltd and Y.C. Deveshwar;) 

E-Choupal – An Initiative Approach by 

OMFED In Balasore Dist 

The Orissa State Cooperative 

Milk Producers’ Federation Limited 

(OMFED) is an apex level Dairy 

Cooperative Society registered under 

Cooperative Society Act – 1962. It came 

into existence, to integrate the milk 

producers in rural areas with consumers 

in the rural areas and with consumers in 

urban areas, OMFED’s main activities 

includes promoting, production, 

procurement, processing and marketing of 

milk & milk products for economic 

development of the rural farming 

community in Orissa. 

OMFED has come up with the 

initiative of helping farmers in the Balasore 

Dist regions by introducing DATA 

PROCESSING UNITS (DPU), a form 

of IT-Kiosk in the regions where the milk is 

collected from the farmers. The units which 

collect the milk from the farmers are called 

Milk Collection Centres. The person 

responsible for collecting the milk from the 

farmers is the General Secretary of that 

Collection centre and he operates the DPU 

and gives the sheet containing the content 

of Fat, SNF, and Quantity of Milk.


55 

This data processing units or DPU’s 

is a device which calculates the content of 

Fat, SNF, quantity of the milk delivered by 

the farmers in the Collection Centre, it also 

gives the Rate of the milk and Amount of 

Money to be given to the farmer upon the 

delivery of the milk at the collection centre; 

There are almost 542 numbers of 

Milk collections Centre present in Balasore 

Dist having a DPU’s respectively for 

collecting milk from the farmers. 

The formula for determining the SNF 

of the milk is given by 

(CLR/4) + 0.21F + 0.34 = SNF 

Where SNF = Solid Not Fat; 

F = Fat; 

C.L.R = Correct Lactometer 

Reading which tells the Density of the 

Milk, Collected from Lactometer 

Device. 

The amount of money calculated from 

DPU’s are paid to the farmers in every 

4 th ,14 th and 24 th dates of the month, Efforts 

are going on to pay the calculated amount 

to the farmers within 3-4 hours with the 

delivery of the milk at the Milk Collection 

Centre. After the Introduction of DPU’S 

in the Balasore Dist there is a significant 

growth in the Milk Procurement which 

can be visualised from the Chart given 

below; 

TABLE-3 

Balasore Milk Procurement (KGS per Day) 

Mont 2003-04 2004-05 2005-06 2006-07 2007-08 2008-09 2009-10 2010-11 2011-12 2012-13 

Apr 2401 8074 17156 24247 27354 20767 22707 23957 25992 31609 

May 2487 8831 19136 24968 26120 20362 22035 25139 27947 33428 

Jun 2233 8845 11038 25664 27261 19661 23877 27004 29539 31322 

July 2143 8795 19217 27168 22993 18893 24430 29948 29879 32761 

Aug 2159 8087 17823 23060 20114 16326 21473 27451 25788 32188 

Sep 2281 7771 16788 20462 16257 15831 19283 26142 23171 28288 

Oct. 1925 8613 17036 20844 16955 16491 19256 25126 21791 27141 

Nov 2334 9619 18927 22194 16861 19055 19097 24781 23548 26592 

Dec 4861 10727 24183 24817 18857 21095 19635 24776 25242 25242 

Jan 4946 11650 22346 24230 19418 20767 19061 23166 25060 26559 

Feb 5640 12274 22054 24311 19532 20221 18558 22632 25189 

Mar 6557 13919 22266 25093 20160 21293 20769 23275 28019 

Total 1151548 3562224 6937569 8733298 7681545 7017645 7614973 9235527 9493487 9031219 

Ave 3145 9767 18999 23922 20990 19230 20848 25283 25930 29513 

E-GRAMA- IT KIOSK 

“e-grama” is basically an Intranet 

Portal, having some static and dynamic 

pages with Intranet e-mailing facility among 

different users of the Intranet; It makes the 

administrative process smoother and 

brings people of the district closer on the 

sharing of official information. It brings 

accountability as both Micro and Macro 

results are accessible at the district level in 

easier operable forms. The Indira Awas 

Yajona (IAY) beneficiaries of the village

56 


are unable to know the exact amount 

received from the Government at a 

particular time and the amount due to 

receive; in this part they have to run to the 

District or Block Head quarters which 

takes a lot of time for compilation and 

decision making; hence for resolving all this 

“e-grama” was conceived. Different 

groups were formed to discuss with the 

villagers regarding the information they 

require; The schemes are then finalised, 

and are put on the intranet. It is available 

in the language of odia. The resource 

persons organized different computer 

training programmes at block and GP 

levels. Nehru Yuva Kendra Sangathan 

volunteers organize training programmes 

in the villages through their ITRY centres. 

The ‘e-grama” Virtual Network the “egrama” 

project revolves around a network 

of computers and people, which we term 

as the “e-grama” virtual network. 

Coming to the cost analysis part, the 

entire expenditure for the “e-grama” is 

available under DRDA and block funds for 

monitoring. The cost involved for 

customised software and training is zero as 

everything was done in-house. The 

important aspect of the project is selffinancing 

of all “e-grama” IT-KIOSKS. At 

each e-grama kiosk, there is a PC client 

machine with Windows 2000 or above OS, 

one printer, one modem and one telephone. 

The total cost of the hardware is 50,000- 

60,000/- which is borne by the youth clubs 

and voluntary organizations working in the 

village; these kiosks are run by computer 

qualified and trained unemployed youths of 

the local village, thus generation employment 

opportunities for them. 

The cost for initial site preparation, 

electrification, furniture, telephone, 

computer and peripheral equipments is 

around 50,000-60,000/-; “e-grama” 

software is provided free of cost, which is 

developed by NIC; training literacy 

certificates and technical support is 

provided by 

Nehru Yuva Kendra and NIC free 

of cost; now if we calculate the monthly 

income and expenditure of kiosks, we get 

the following details as for electricity 

charges, telephone bills, honorarium of IT 

volunteer and printing, cost of paper gives 

an amount of Rs 300-400/-; Rs 300-500/ 

-; Rs 1500 to 2000/-; and Rs.800 to 

1000/- respectively approximately in all 

levels; thus the total comes to Rs.2900/-. 

Now coming to the income part we get 

for Computer Literacy Training to Local 

Youth, Employees, Businessmen, SGH 

members etc @ Rs.50/- to Rs. 200/- at 

Rs. 3500/-; For selling of forms and 

different services information on Govt 

schemes & others as per the chart given 

below we have a amount of Rs.1000/-; 

Job typing & Data Processing we have 

Rs.1000/-; and income from Internet use 

we get Rs.1000/- hence the total income 

comes around Rs. 5600/-. Now average 

Monthly Income we get Rs.5600- 

Rs.2900/- = Rs.2700/-.For economic 

viability of the Kiosks, they are provided 

with a rate chart for selling different forms 

to the villagers and for providing various 

services to the villagers. Computer training


57 

on fundamentals of computer and MS- 

Word, MS-Excel, MS-power point is 

provided to the villagers at a low cost for 

which certificate is awarded by NYKS at 

the village KIOSK. For generating more 

revenue, the KIOSKS are undertaking 

DTP and data entry work; 

Data Management 

To start with, each “e-grama” 

KIOSK is provided a Compact Disk 

(CD) from NIC, containing the “e-grama” 

portal. All are given adequate training, 

sponsored by NYKS, on how to copy the 

CD and configure the IIS for running “egrama” 

portal at their local machine. Every 

month, one updated CD is provided to the 

KIOSKs through the computer operator 

of the block offices. Whenever they need 

the latest information or want to send e- 

mail to officials of district administration 

or below, they connect to the “e-grama” 

intranet portal through modem, which is 

ported on a server at NIC. They are 

provided authenticated user ID and 

password to access the intranet portal. 

Different services are provided at the 

Kiosks such as different forms in Oriya 

and English are sold, Household 

information of all the villagers; can know 

various developmental programmes, the 

information & products services by Self 

Help Groups are kept in internet, Village 

wise beneficiaries for schemes like 

Annapurna, Antodya Anna Yojana, TPDS, 

APL and BPL are provided here, details 

of PDS distribution of rice and sugar are 

provided, details of retail centres, All the 

guidelines and booklets prepared by Govt. 

for different programmes in Oriya like 

Agriculture, Health, Education, Sanitary 

Programme, Drinking Water etc are 

provided at the KIOSK. 

Project Sambhab an initiative has 

come into effect in the area of Jambhira in 

Balasore district which focuses on 

providing 2 ways video audio 

communication system between 

Emergency Operation Centre (EOC) and 

Cyclone Shelters, IT equipment like 

Desktop, Computer, Digital Inverter, with 

AC , furniture and lighting systems have 

been provided to the shelters. 

OSWAN 

OSWAN know as Orissa State 

Wide Area Network has come into effect 

in the district of Balasore with 

establishments of a 2 Mbps Data link from 

the Secretariat to the District office. 

It is provided with various facilities 

such as video conferencing, VOIP, 

Teleconference, Fax, Web enabled 

applications and Wan based applications. 

The Ip phone directory for collector is 

1040, ADM is 1043, OSWAN VC room 

1042. 

(Source: http://www.oswan.gov.in/ 

IPDirectory.asp?GL=5&PL=7 & SL=4 

& blk=BALSO) 

OTHER CSR ACTIVITIES IN THE 

REGION OF BALASORE 

Some of the CSR activities which has 

been initiated by Balasore Alloys is for the 

Development of a ICU in District Head 

Quarter Hospital ,Repair of Police

58 


Hospital at Balasore , Development of G 

K Bhattar Hospital, Jaleswar, Balasore; 

Construction of class rooms in 

Banchanidhi, Construction of science 

block in local women’s college. (Please 

refer to URL: http:// 

www.balasorealloys.com/ 

corporate_responsibility.html). 

AGMARKNET is a portal of 

Directorate of Marketing and Inspection, 

Govt. of India which helps in providing 

up-to-date market information on 

Agricultural products to farmers. This has 

been implemented in 58 RMCs in Orissa 

that provides commodity prices and 

arrivals and mode of transportation; 

Coming to other initiatives like Project 

Punarbas, which mainly focuses on the 

Rehabilitation & Resettlement activities, 

the website gives the developmental 

projects running in the state ( http:// 

www.punarbas.in/). 

CONCLUSION 

Corporate Social Responsibility in 

India is being adopted in a slow pace, very 

few companies have adopted CSR strategy 

to sustain a long run, In the Balasore 

district small IT-Kiosks are being 

established; with subsidy arrangement 

provided by the Govt & under the 

guidance of OCAC, thus generating 

entrepreneurship skills among the youths, 

initiatives taken by Omfed by installing 

DPU’s in the Milk Collection Centre has 

bought smiles in the face of farmers, 

generating way for income. Steps taken 

by Nesco in the District of Balasore by 

establishing Kiosks for the easy payment 

of Electricity Bills and providing Rebate 

to the customers, thus generating 

knowledge of IT among the people of 

Balasore District. More IT-Infrastructure 

initiatives need to be implemented in 

Balasore Dist, although Govt. has bought 

up schemes on e-Governance but neither 

of the schemes is reaching out to public in 

a greater way, thus creating a 

communication, knowledge gap among the 

people of the District. 

Reference 

• Agarwal, S. (2008) Corporate 

social responsibility in India, Sage 

publications Ltd Chandrasekaran, V. 

& Balachandran, V. (2004) 

Corporate Governance and Social 

Responsibility, PHI Publisher. 

• Comprehensive District Annual Plan 

2011-12, Balasore Distrct. 

• E-choupal Case study From India, 

Information Technology and Social 

Enterprise. E-choupals use Internet 

Kiosks to Increase Food 

Transparency,Jan 2009. 

• Omfed data abstracted from http:// 

www.omfed.com/ 

organisation.asp?lnk=org. 

• Nesco http://www.nescoodisha.com/ 

customer/JanaSeva.asp. 

• Directorate of Industries, Cuttack ; 

Directorate of Textiles, 

Bhubaneswar; Directorate of 

Handicrafts & Cottage Industries, 

Odisha ;


59 

• Corporate social responsibility 

through knowledge leadership in 

India: ITC Ltd and Y.C. 

Deveshwar; 

• TABLE-01 gives the Distribution of 

Manufacturing Infrastructure In the 

Balasore District; TABLE NO-02 

gives The number of village to be set 

up with NESCO KIOSK Called 

JAN SEVA KENDRA; 

• (Please refer to URL: http:// 

www.balasorealloys.com/ 

corporate_responsibility.html, for 

more information on CSR by 

Balasore Alloys. 

• Source: http://as.ori.nic.in/nicosu/ 

default.html. 

• Source:http://www.oswan.gov.in/ 

IPDirectory.asp? 

GL=5&PL=7&SL=4&blk=BALSO. 

• “e-Gram” concept sourced from Mr. 

R.K. Das is the Technical Director, 

Department of I.T., Government of 

India, NIC Berhampur. Nabin K. 

Naik is the Regional Co-ordinator, 

Min Y &AS, Government of India, 

NYKS, Berhampur. 

• TABLE NO-03 gives the Growth 

Rate of Milk Procurement of 

Balasore District after Implementing 

of DPU’S, Rate chart; sourced from 

Mr. Dhirendra Kumar Das, Is the 

General Manager, Omfed. 

• Source : http://www.punarbas.in/. 

•••

60 


Introducing Corporate Social Responsibility 

(CSR) to a spiritual and ‘superstitious’ India 

Ankur Joshi 

Research Scholar at Management Development Institute, Gurgaon, India 

ankurjoshi87@gmail.com 

Pawan Verma 

Management Development Institute, Gurgaon, India 

dr.pawanverma@outlook.com 

Priyanka Dutt 

Assistant Professor in the Department of Management Studies at IIS University, Jaipur 

priyanka.m.dutt@gmail.com 

Puneet Bindlish 

Research Scholar at Management Development Institute, Gurgaon, India (MDI) 

puneetbindlish@gmail.com 

ABSTRACT 

The Bhartiya (Indian) biocentric worldview and associated social responsibility as 

an integral part of society. Without any formal structures of social charity, the Bhartiya 

way of life is intertwined with social responsibility. Some of important concepts 

presented include: First being from Bhartiya traditional values and belief of nishkaam 

karm meaning selfless action. Second is the discourse of dharm-karm meaning the 

deeds and action for society which has not only been talked about but practised too. 

Third dimension is that of Sarve Bhavantu Sukhina meaning well being of all through 

cooperation and coordination, which has remained a guiding philosophy for ages. 

An analysis has been done by comparing extrinsic ways of social welfare through 

formal CSR and Bhartiya social structure’s capability of intrinsic sustainability in 

undertaking social welfare. 

A discussion on how, Bharat (India) as a nation could evolve a framework to establish 

a balance between extrinsic and intrinsic motivations towards social responsibility. 

The paper concludes with a discussion on the need for inducting Bhartiya 

philosophies into the character of leadership and management. 

Keywords: CSR;Spirituality; Leadership; Spiritual leadership; Confluence; 

Convergence; Integral; Unified

Introducing Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) to a spiritual and ‘superstitious’ India 

61 

Introduction: 

In recent times, researchers from 

various domains of management like 

environmental management, economics, 

strategy, public policy and management, 

to name a few, have developed interest 

in corporate social responsibility 

(CSR). Porter and Krammer (2006) 

have stated that since companies are 

held accountable for the social 

consequences of their activities, 

companies are left with no choice but 

to embrace the concept of CSR and 

they have felt need to introduce global 

policies to ensure best practices in every 

market (Knowledge@Wharton, 2009). 

Further it has also been remarked that 

business and society are interdependent 

and should not be considered as 

contradictory forces. But the view of 

considering CSR activity has been 

sought, as a detrimental to corporate 

goals and hence discourse developed 

on the lines of its strategic aspect. This 

philosophy emanates from the 

anthropocentric worldview and often 

termed as philanthro-capitalism. 

The present paper highlights 

aspects related to biocentric 

worldviews as they are applied to CSR. 

Also, in particular, the Bhartiya (Indian) 

biocentric worldview and associated 

social responsibility as an integral part 

of society, has been reviewed and 

reflected upon. Without any formal 

structures of social charity, the Bhartiya 

way of life is intertwined with social 

responsibility. Some of important 

concepts presented include: First being 

from Indian traditional values and belief 

of nishkaam karm meaning selfless 

action. Second is the discourse of 

dharm-karm meaning the deeds and 

action for society which remained not 

only normative, but practised too. Third 

dimension is that of Sarve Bhavantu 

Sukhina meaning well being of all 

through cooperation and coordination, 

which has remained a guiding 

philosophy for ages. Here ‘all’ 

encompass not only with human beings 

but with all living beings, plants and 

nature as a whole. 

Since Bhartiya companies may not 

share the same worldview as 

westerners’ on the strategic aspect of 

CSR owing to the concepts mentioned 

above. Subsequently, a discussion on 

how, in particular, Bharat (India) as a 

nation could evolve a framework to 

establish a balance between extrinsic 

and intrinsic motivations towards social 

responsibility. To look CSR as a 

strategic one and concept which is 

necessary to undo the harm done to 

society by business action or it is a 

phenomenon to integrate the societal 

values, individual’s principles, 

government’s rules and regulations and 

corporate goals. The paper concludes 

with a discussion on the need for 

inducting Bhartiya philosophies into the 

character of leadership and 

management.

62 


Discussion 

Nishkaam karm 

Bhartiya traditional values and 

belief of nishkaam karm meaning 

selfless action finds important place in 

various scriptures. Bhagwad Geeta 

chapter 2 verse 47 goes 

Karmanyevaadhikaraste maa phaleshu kadachan | 

maa karmaphalaheturbhur maa te sango-astavakarmani || 

Meaning: One has right to work, 

perform activities but no right over 

results. One keeps on working without 

thinking about what results that would 

yield. 

Dharm-Karm 

Dharm-Karm ke kaaj (deeds and 

action for society). This philosophy 

stems from the view of integrating the 

individual goals, social goals and 

corporate goals. Every human being part 

of society has to perform some actions, 

dedicate some time or efforts to the well 

being of society. 

Other dimension that emanates 

from this is that of survival through 

cooperation ensuring well being of 

everyone, which takes us to next 

discussion. 

Sarve Bhavantu Sukhina 

Sarve Bhavantu Sukhina meaning 

well being of all through cooperation and 

coordination, which has remained a 

guiding philosophy for ages. Here ‘all’ 

encompass not only with human beings 

but with all living beings, plants and 

nature as a whole. 

Above stated philosophies are 

just indicative of the world view which 

is biocentric. Every step of human 

action is linked with nature which is 

termed ‘mother nature’ and also linked 

with the society. The integration of 

sensitivity of nature and basic needs 

of individuals and society could be 

termed optimum amongst all the 

existent approaches. 

The objective is the paper is to 

search for such phenomenon and 

propose them for consideration in the 

academic domain and for industries to 

take a stance to revert back to Bhartiya 

sustainable model. The paper does not 

propose something new, never tried 

before; the focus is to draw attention to 

the vast wisdom left by ancestors, which 

can be applied. 

History of Bhartiya Economy 

The span of 100 or 200 years of 

history is not ample to establish any 

phenomenon. This lead us to Historical 

Statistics by Angus Maddison and it 

was evident that “sone ki chidiya” (a 

golden bird) was not a phrase but a 

hard fact. Bhartiya contribution to 

world income was roughly 28-30% till 

early 1800s.

Introducing Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) to a spiritual and ‘superstitious’ India 

63 

Source: Derived from Historical statistics by Angus Maddison 

The graph is reflecting two areas: - 

First one is the economic indicator 

(income) and other is aspect of 

sustainability. The economy could sustain 

itself for nearly 2000 years!! This 

explains the aptness of striking 

balance between economic growth 

and sustainability. 

Conclusion 

Based on the discussion it can be 

concluded that government’s policy 

instead of enforcing the CSR guidelines, 

focus should be on creating environment 

wherein corporate revert back to 

traditional methods of sustainable 

economic development. Also Bhartiya 

companies need not to follow Strategic 

CSR, instead and CSR approach which 

is biocentric in nature. 

Further research 

The research area can be explored 

in various dimensions. Existing models 

based on Bhartiya sustainability model 

are awaiting researchers. Case studies 

could be developed highlighting the 

methods and benefits of the model. 

Cow based economy have been 

proposed by some organisation, their 

processes could be studied and 

reverting back to sustainable model 

would become easier.

64 


References 

1. Knowledge@Wharton (2009). The 

Sichuan Earthquake and the Changing 

Landscape of CSR in China. 

Retrieved December 26, 2012 from 

http://knowledge.wharton. 

upenn.edu/article.cfm? 

articleid=2213 

2. Porter M.E & Krammer M R 

(2006). Strategy and Society: The 

Link between Competitive 

Advantage and Corporate Social 

Responsibility. Retrieved December 

26, 2012 from http://hbr.org/2006/ 

12/strategy-and-society-the-linkbetween-competitive-advantageand-corporate-social-responsibility/ 

ar/1 

3. Maddison A. World Population, GDP 

and Per Capita GDP, 1-2003 AD. 

Retrieved January 10, 2012 from 

http://www.historicalstatistics.org/ 

•••


65 

Case Study : I 

Kesoram Industries Ltd. Managing a Sustainable 

Supply Chain: 

A Case Study of BIRLA TYRES 

M. Pattnaik 

Dept. of Business Administration, Utkal University, 

Bhubaneswar, India-751004, 

Email: monalisha1977@gmail.com 

It has been approved the formation 

of an internal Sustainable Supply Chain to 

“develop the strategies and tools necessary 

to accomplish Birla Tyres vision of 

sustainable sourcing.” As described in its 

latest Report and internal documents, Birla 

Tyres envisioned a sustainable supply chain 

“we continue to operate in certain 

sectors where our customers trust our 

strategic vision. Cement and tyres, the 

two significant business of Kesoram 

have seen a mixed year. To meet the 

challenges of these dynamic markets 

and to continue on our journey of 

success, we have necessary foresight, 

strategy and preparedness.” They 

believed that Birla Tyres’ existing 

sustainable supply chain efforts led the tyre 

industry; however, it also identified many 

issues Birla Tyres still needed to address 

in order to achieve its vision. 

The supply chain management 

focuses the system of managing and 

controlling the entire logistic movement, 

starting from suppliers’ point to receiving 

of goods/raw materials and dispatch of 

finished goods after final production, 

through different channels, into the hands 

of the customers. The supply chain 

management constitutes a very pivotal role 

for the effective functioning of the 

organization. For different flow, like (i) 

physical flow of material (ii) document flow 

(iii) information flow etc. different channels 

come into play. Selection of channel 

depends upon the nature of the product, 

target customers, supplier base etc. The 

channel should always be selected carefully 

based on the strategy the company wants 

to follow and the risks it wants to take. 

Operation control of these channels may 

be executed by Company’s own staff or 

by hiring professionals. 

Birla Tyres had successfully influenced 

many of its suppliers to improve their social, 

environmental, and economical impacts. In 

particular, the company hoped that by 

understanding the relevant challenges and 

opportunities, Birla Tyres could build on that 

success in the years ahead will be 

determined by the readiness to anticipate 

and be proactive to the fast changing 

business and regulatory environment while 

remaining fully committed to their corporate

66 


and social responsibility. This will ensure a 

beneficial experience for all their 

stakeholders, customers, employees, 

bankers’ dealers and suppliers. So that Birla 

Tyres has built a solid reputation for quality 

and is now recognized as one of the best 

tyre manufacturers around. In the process, 

Basant Kumar Birla CEO, and his 

worldwide supply chain management team 

would have to answer some difficult 

questions: 

• How should Birla Tyre prioritize 

sustainability relative to other supply 

chain goals (e.g. providing the right 

thing at right time and minimizing cost)? 

• How should Birla Tyre reconcile 

different sustainability expectations 

and priorities around the world with 

the understanding that TPM, 

Japanese formula based upon zero 

accident, zero break done and zero 

down time so that the optimum 

production can be achieved with 

minimum cost which impact the 

global brand? 

• How should Birla Tyre selected lot of 

kaizen like (i) reduction of transit time 

of the vehicles (ii) reduction of 

inspection time have been selected and 

steps are being taken to reach the goal 

by bench marking in its sustainable 

supply chain efforts? 

Birla Tyres’ Supply Chain 

History 

Kesoram Industries Ltd is a Public 

Limited Company promoted by Late G.D. 

Birla in the year 1928 having its Corporate 

Office at Kolkata. Under the Company’s 

Banner first a textile business 

(manufacturing of textiles) was started. 

Thereafter in course of time different units 

were developed and inducted. Presently, 

the company is controlling the business of 

cement, tyres, rayon, chemical, paper etc. 

with an annual turnover exceeding 

Rs.7000.00 crores. 

Birla Tyres, under the Kesoram’s 

umbrella was born in the year 1988 at 

Chhanpur, Balasore, Odisha. After the 

demise of Late G.D. Birla, B.K. Birla took 

over the charge of the company and under 

his initiation Birla Tyre was established. 

Originally, the unit was started for 

manufacturing of automobile tyres, tubes 

and flaps with installed capacity of 120 

M.T. per day. Commercial production was 

started in the year 1992. Since then the 

unit has increased its capacity by adding 

machines at different times. Presently, the 

installed capacity has been increased to 

272.5 M.T. 

In the year 2008, a second tyre plant 

was established by the same promoter at 

Laksar, Uttarakhand, Haridwar with 

installed capacity 320 M.T. per day to 

manufacture automobile tyres, tubes and 

flaps. In the year 2010 the 3 rd unit was 

set up for the manufacture of truck radial 

tyre with capacity 150 M.T. Subsequently, 

a 4 th unit has also started simultaneously 

for two wheeler/three wheelers with 

capacity of 80 M.T. In the year 2011 

passenger car radial was under

Kesoram Industries Ltd. Managing a Sustainable Supply Chain 

67 

construction at Balasore with installed 

capacity 70 M.T. per day. At present the 

same is under project stage and likely to 

be completed by 2013. Birla Tyres has 

an annual turnover Rs.3800.00 crores 

from all units. It spends about Rs.34.00 

crores towards inbound logistic and 

Rs.74.00 crores for out bound logistic. For 

different channel function and operation 

Birla Tyre is spending about Rs.58.00 

crores. These are the annual expenditure 

under the entire channel and supply chain 

system. 

Birla Tyres a unit of M/s. Kesoram 

Industries Ltd. Was set up to manufacture 

Automobile Tyres, Tubes and Flaps in the 

District of Balasore, Orissa started 

commercial production with effect from 

01.03.1992. The plant was set up in 

Technical Collaboration with “M/s. Pirelli 

Ltd., U.K.” A subsidiary of International 

giant Pirelli group of Italy being one of the 

largest manufacturer of tyres in the world. 

Birla Tyres, part of Kesoram Industries 

Limited, was founded in 1991. Birla Tyres 

manufactures tyres for automobiles, 

trucks, buses, motorcycles, heavy 

machinery vehicles, tractors and other farm 

machinery. Birla Tyres set up its first tyre 

manufacturing plant in Balasore in the 

Indian state of Orissa in 1991 alongside 

Italian tyre manufacturer Pirelli. 

In a span of two decades, Birla Tyres 

has become one of the most well-known 

tyre manufacturers in India. With its new 

manufacturing plant in Laksar-Haridwar, 

Uttarakhand, the company has surged 

ahead in the tyre business. Built within a 

record time of a mere 10 months, Birla 

Tyres plans to invest a total of 

approximately INR 2300 Crores in the 

state-of-the-art Haridwar factory which 

has a production capacity of 44,00,000 

truck tyres per annum. 

Birla Tyres exports to more than 50 

countries and reported a turnover of over 

INR 350 Crores earned from exports 

alone between 2009 and 2011. On the 

domestic front, Birla Tyres has a 3200 

strong network of dealers spread across 

the length and breadth of the country to 

cater for the Indian tyre market. Birla Tyres 

employs over 170 sales officers and 

engineers, stationed at strategic locations 

to offer round the clock Claim Settlements 

and unparalleled customer services. Birla 

Tyres has earned various national and 

international accreditations including the 

ISO 14001 certification. It has a broad 

product range, with the Victus series for 

truck and bus radials and Road Maxx 

series for motorcycles being the latest 

offerings from the company. 

Birla Tyres had to face difficulties as 

well such as the increase in natural rubber 

prices or labour unrest in the manufacturing 

plant in Balasore. The profits too have 

taken a severe toll in 2011. Compared to 

a profit of about INR 237 Crores in 2010, 

Birla Tyres has suffered losses to the 

amount of 210 Crores in 2011. In a move 

to correct the situation, the company is in 

the process of revamping and reorganizing 

its management operations. With a new

68 


management strategy that intends to focus 

on better usage of the capacity of 

manufacturing plants together with 

aggressive marketing and an altered 

product mix with a shift towards the more 

profitable passenger car and two-wheeler 

tyres products, Birla Tyres hopes to 

recover from the losses in the near future. 

The Indian tyre market for truck and 

bus radials is set to grow at a tremendous 

rate owing to the infrastructure 

development in India. In a bid to enter and 

win the Indian radial tyre market segment, 

Birla Tyres is set to increase the production 

of truck and bus radials by a whopping 

85 tonnes per day in the manufacturing 

plant at Haridwar in a move that would 

require an investment of INR 350 Crores. 

The tyre manufacturing plant in Balasore 

is slated to receive an investment of INR 

450 Crores to increase the output of 

passenger car radials by a figure of 80 

tonnes a day. 

The plant is equipped with best and 

sophisticated advanced machineries from 

world leaders of tyres machinery 

manufacturers such as Berstorff, (Germany) 

C.A. Litzler, (U.S.A.), Comerio (Italy), 

Pirelli (Italy), Mitsubishi (Japan), Spadone 

(U.S.A.) along with indigenous machineries 

from L&T McNeil, Farrel Anand and 

Alferd Herbert etc. 

The Company has been awarded the 

ISO 9001 Certificate in December, 1994 

in recognition of its Quality Management 

System. It is the first tyre Company in the 

history to be awarded ISO 14001 

Certificate in recognition of its Environment 

Management System in the year February, 

1998. The Company has also won QS 

9001 Certification in March, 1999. The 

Company has started Total Productive 

Maintenance (TPM) activities for further 

strengthening the quality of product and 

personnel increasing efficiency and 

controlling cost and awarded the 

Certificate in October, 2001. 

The Plant was initially established with 

120M.T. production capacity 

concentrating upon production of Truck 

and Bus Tyres, Tubes and Flaps. 

Subsequently the production capacity was 

increased to 149 M.T. during the year 

1999-2000. The Unit also simultaneously 

established Radial Tyre Plant which started 

production since November, 2000 with 

production capacity about5 M.T. per day 

to produce only passenger car tyres. 

Presently, our installed capacity is 272.5 

M.T. and plant is running with full capacity 

in both the cases. 

The indigenous sale is built up through 

OEM, DGS&D and replacement market. 

TELCO, Ashok Leyland, Mahindra & 

Mahindra & TAFE, are the regular OEM 

customers. The company has seventy two 

distribution points spread all over India for 

direct sales to the replacement market. 

The export is made to various Countries 

like, U.S.A., U.K., Canada, Brazil, 

Sweden, Singapore, Ireland, Norway, 

Spain, Germany, Bahrain, Algeria, Nigeria, 

Peru, Philippines, Malaysia, Bangladesh, 

Nepal & Vietnam.


69 

The prevailing market situation has 

compelled the Company to concentrate on 

TPM norms which have helped immensely 

in cutting down all the hidden losses thereby 

drastically reducing the cost of production. 

This has helped to withstand the tough 

competition and company is constantly 

striving to sustain the present status. 

Success Point 

Birla Tyre has been established with 

an overall market share of about 16% of 

the total tyres sold in the Country. Out of 

total sales made, 50% sale is in 

replacement market, 30% sale in export 

market and rest 20% in OE Market. 

Birla Tyre has been awarded the 

“Best Company of the year” many a times 

in its life span from the state of Orissa. It 

has been awarded “The Tyre Company 

of the Year” from ATMA. It has received 

the Chief Minister Award, “Golden 

Peacock Shield” twice in the year 2001 

and 2006. CII, Odisha Chapter also 

awarded trophy and shield in different 

occasions. For quality performance also 

Birla Tyre has been awarded innumerable 

prizes from different circle. For the highest 

export from the State it has received trophy 

twice in its life span. 

Capacity Building 

All incoming materials from different 

vendors to each receiving point of all units 

are being transported by trucks/tankers. 

100% road transportation has been 

formulated all over the Country. Very few 

cases where full truck load is not required, 

materials are brought through courier 

services or part consignment load basis. 

A full truck load can be Ex work basis or 

FOR at site basis and for Birla Tyre both 

cases are applicable. Birla Tyre’s incoming 

sources are multi sources basis so different 

registered have different agreement 

protocol. For plant & machinery/capital 

goods are transportation, both the parties, 

Birla Tyres & transporters have to follow 

some other terms including general as 

above. 

Normally, entire automobile tyres 

have been divided in two segment, i) Truck 

& Bus, ii) Passenger & LCV. So entire 

gamut of marketing, like sales channel, 

logistic, networking, adverting and selling 

also depends upon which category of tyres 

are being produced. Birla Tyres has 

focused on producing of 95% on trucks 

& bus including LCV category and rest 

on passenger category as mentioned in its 

Vision & Mission statement. The company 

has promoted its distribution channel 

through C&F as well as selling agents on 

commission basis. There are 212 RDC 

Points through out the Country where 

depots have been facilitated. Each Deport 

has been assigned to specific agency, who 

is working as C&F Agent after accepting 

a token security deposit. This security 

deposit also depends upon the volume of 

transaction and location advantage. 

Besides this, company has 20 number 

major mother go downs, which is being 

controlled by company centrally deploying 

its own staff. Every day as per marketing 

plan, finish goods are being dispatched

70 


from all the four plants located in two 

places and first stored in twenty mother 

depots. Under each mother depot one 

C&F agent office & go downs have been 

attached in such a way that finish goods 

can be easily transferred at minimum time. 

From all these C&F points, actual sale to 

dealers is made. Company has direct 

control up to C&F points. 

Logistic & C&F transportation is 

done through company approved 

authorized transporters. 100% 

transportation is through truck. 

Transporters are responsible for any loss 

or damage caused to tyres in course of 

transportation. 

Leadership 

The company has been always 

looking to the quality aspect. In order to 

achieve this, it has been concentrated and 

focuses on the truck tyres segment. To 

standardize and maintain the quality 

company is following ISO standard for 

different activity. It has also adopted 

TPM, Total Productive Maintenance, 

being the formula/concept for zero break 

down, Zero maintenance and zero 

accident. Implementing all these theories 

in daily life has culminated in an decrease 

in the loss and wastage ratio and increased 

the productivity level. This could certainly 

promote the quality parameters and 

emphasizes the leadership. 

Sustainable Supply Chain 

Birla Tyres adopted automatic 

replenishment process of procuring Raw 

Materials. Generally, 80% of Raw 

Material requirement is procured through 

open order basis. When stock reaches 

the reorder/critical level, its SAP system 

automatically give reminders and intimation 

is sent to suppliers. In case where there 

are multi suppliers, which lot from which 

supplier at what time should be received 

is being calculated. For this specific soft 

ware TORA system is adopted. Through 

SIMPLEX formula logistic arrangement 

is done for the raw material supply, i.e. 

from which supplier, which ware house 

have material will be sent to which unit of 

Birla Tyres. 

For consumable Birla Tyre has 

system to procure material on JIT 

procedure. Very common and ordinary 

items where requirement is very large local 

vendors have been developed to supply 

immediately without disturbing the 

production. In this process, lot of shortage 

space is saved. For other group of 

consumable automatic trigger are being 

sent by SAP when stock reaches to 

reorder level. For third category regular 

requirement but quantity are not very high 

monthly and quarterly plan has been 

formulated. Orders are placed upon 

supplier for the whole year specifying to 

supply as per time schedule the required 

quantity. In formulating the Natural 

Rubber, daily requirement method the 

solution through SIMPLEX method which 

is done through SAP is as follows. 

Presently, Birla Tyre is bringing 

Natural Rubber from ten different supplies 

including import of item. This Natural


71 

Rubber is available in two form sheet and 

block/cake form. All cake form and one 

sheet form (RSS-III) are imported from 

Country like Indonesia, Malesiya & 

Thailand. Sheet rubber in the form RSS- 

IV is bought out from Kerala & Tripura 

where more than ten suppliers are 

involved. For procuring Natural Rubber 

advance booking system is invoke. Birla 

Tyres production process has been 

defined the mix of block & sheet rubber. 

Again, all suppliers’ capacity to supply 

within the month is being planned out as 

per the monthly production/requirement 

plan considering the import substitute 

availability shipment when it is likely to 

be received. Mostly, imports are done 

again liquidating the Advance License 

free of duty. For this the import price is 

always lower then indigenous price. 

Seeing the stiff competition and cost 

constraint along with availability, sheet 

rubber & block rubber mix is also 

changed. 

Per day requirement as per plant full 

capacity: 

Plant I - Daily 110 MT x 30 = 3300 

Plant II - Daily 125 MT x 30 = 3750 

Plant III - Daily 60 MT x 30 = 1800 

Plant IV - Daily 35 MT x 30 = 1050 

Days dispatch to be made are also 

worked out through SIMPEX method and 

delivery schedule along with delivery date 

within the month is informed to each 

supplier considering the transit time to 

reach in each plant. 

Like this other materials are also 

being channelized through this evaluation 

process where RM requirement is huge 

and supply source is many. 

Social, economic & Environmental 

With the establishment of the BT in 

the state of Orissa, mainly in Balasore 

town, the social and economic position of 

the inhabitants of the district has been 

drastically changed. Once upon a time 

prior to 1990 the district which was 

declared backward districts has now been 

considered as forward district. More than 

1/10 th population of the district is engaged 

to earn their livelihood by engaging them in 

Birla Tyres. Various jobs, direct and indirect 

were allotted in priority. Many peoples 

have been employed in the service. 

Company has also directly offered 

employment to many people like land looser, 

inhabitants of Balasore, passed out from 

local colleges. Accumulated incomes of all 

these, indirectly increase the purchasing 

capacity of people of the region. 

Moreover, due to demand of trucks 

for incoming and outgoing purposes, local 

people have established the partnership 

transport business after a tie up with giant 

transporters doing business at national and 

international level. This also helps the 

growth potential of the people and helped 

to engage a section of people who can 

earn their livelihood indirectly. 

Global Initiatives 

The company is also engaged to 

export tyres to different countries like East

72 


Asea, Middle East. Some European 

Countries and U.S.A. Export is done 

directly from different ports of India like 

Mumbai, Chennai, Tuticorin, Haldia and 

Kolkata. Besides this, export is also being 

made to Nepal, Bhutan, and Bangladesh. 

The annual export turnover is about 

Rs.600.00 crore. Finished goods are sent 

to these ports through inland road 

transport by fleet of trucks. Also export 

is done through channelizing agents, who 

held the export licenses and negotiated with 

foreign buyers to send the tyres. But 

process of sending to the ports is same as 

it is done in case of exporting goods 

directly. Clearing Agents have been 

authorized to execute export procedure at 

the ports. 

Birla Tyre’s Response 

The company’s supply chain has been 

very effective because it has promised to 

its customer that right thing in right time 

and in right place has to be delivered. This 

has been recorded as vision statement. All 

employees are motivated by the vision 

statement and vowed to achieve goal. 

Moreover due to induction of SAP the 

process becomes more easy and 

transparent to achieve the goal. 

Outcomes 

Our customers are very much 

complacent with the product of Birla 

Tyres. This resulted in dealers/sub-dealers 

to use our product, priority. Dealer 

commission, sub dealer commission is paid 

in time. Company also hold the dealer/ 

sub-dealer meet once in a year and 

recognized the best dealer’s achievement. 

The company is very much keen in 

providing free services to that customer 

whose tyre failed within guarantee period. 

There are system to allow the customer 

benefit whose tyre failed, depending upon 

the percentage of failure and expiry of tyre 

life. 

Achieving the Vision (Goal) 

In the vision statement the company 

has committed to serve its customer by 

providing the right thing at right time with 

minimum cost. To achieve this company 

has taken different strategies to achieve this 

goal. 

Birla Tyres has fixed the target for 

each function (activity wise) to achieve the 

goal. It has implemented TPM, (Total 

Productive Maintenance), the Japanese 

formula based upon zero accident, zero 

break down and zero down time, so that 

optimum production can be achieved with 

minimum cost. 

Under TPM, the company has 

selected different programmers under its 

goal mission and ultimate customer 

satisfaction by on time delivery. This has 

been formalized by selecting different 

activity through Kaizen principle and 

evaluating those to achieve the goal 

mission. 

Future plan 

Birla Tyres is now very much watchful 

and cautiously stepping in the right


73 

direction. Negotiation is under process 

with Pirelli, the giant Italian Company for 

partnership business. It is also thrusting 

its full effort to positioning in marketing and 

instilling the market share by focusing on 

new business. 


On February 6 th 2012, Giulia, Junior, 

Dai Ling and Yuxi, with the company of 

Sudipta, went for the second time to Birla 

Tyres, now with the new questionnaire 

about CSR activities. Birla Tyres first plant 

in Balasore was set up in 1991; it is a 

division of the B K Birla flagship Kesoram 

Industries Limited. It produces different 

types of tyres, to domestic use and also 

exportation; and it is recognized as one of 

the best tyre manufacturers in the business 

today, as also an oligopoly in Balasore. 

Birla Tyres has 4000 employees, and most 

of them are men. The industry provides to 

them free accommodation and food, so 

they can save on living expenses. Their 

salary varies around Rs. 15000. They do 

not have a social policy or CSR activities 

going on. Mr. S. Roy Choudhury told them 

that they had already provided drinking 

water to Bampada village through a tube 

well. He affirmed that Birla Tyres needs 

to work on some social project for the 

villages nearby, and is willing to help them 

in developing activities that meet the basic 

needs of the community. Close to Birla 

Tyres there are many villages where many 

workers live. When they went to Sutei 

Bodaga, they noticed that one of its main 

need is water supply, they have only 7 tube 

well and they said that it was not enough 

to them. Somnathpur village, where a local 

person informed us that around 50 

employees from Birla Tyres lived there, is 

a developed village compared to others 

that they visited; but the villagers 

complained that they have no electricity in 

their houses and that Birla Tyres promised 

to assure that for them. In Saraswatipur, 

they wish they had a better system of water 

supply; they only have 2 tube wells in a 

village with 50 families. In Bampada 

village, which is another village close to 

Birla Tyres, they have no facilities at all, 

but we think that maybe Birla Tyres could 

provide regular health camps, since the 

hospital is too far from them. Also in 

Chanapur village, they need regular health 

camps; After this long study in CSR 

activity, with visits, questionnaires and 

interactions, they could notice that CSR 

activities in Balasore are still just in the 

beginning. Though some big industries 

have done good social programs, there is 

still a long way to go to achieve the final 

destination, which is building a harmonious 

society between villages and industries. 

Nowadays, social responsibilities are 

becoming more and more important. An 

industry cannot eventually succeed without 

cooperate social responsibilities with the 

whole society. Industries should take these 

burdens to preserve the welfare and the 

benefits not only of their workers for they 

are the foundation of the whole companies. 

Meanwhile, other roles in this society also 

play significant parts. In one hand, they are 

the consumers of these markets. On the

74 


other hand, they are the intersection and 

the fundamental elements of this society, 

who reflect the reality and the true feelings 

towards the quality of their life. Therefore, 

in order to make a better balance and 

develop a win-win long term way for both 

the people and the industries, some 

improvements are timely required in the 

industries. 

Many industries do not have specific 

plan for CSR activities, even their 

managers or presidents cannot provide us 

with more details about CSR; they usually 

do it without a fixed action plan. They 

suggest them to come up with a specific 

standard of CSR activities and fulfill social 

responsibility. When an industry develops 

a specific social program, they are not only 

benefiting the society, but also their own 

image for its consumers and stakeholders. 

However, as they are doing it thinking 

about their profits, they have to make it 

effective. If they organize CSR activities 

just for good reputation, they are afraid 

that the villages may not get total 

development benefit. The CSR activities 

should be more practicable and improve 

the villages truly. 

Looking forward 

World is facing a global recession 

for which demand is falling internationally. 

America, Europe and some Countries are 

on the brink of Bankruptcy. Country like 

Greece, Turkey are declared debt 

country and EUC had bailed out to save 

them. India is also facing the same 

problem. Our growth has come down 

drastically. Chief Economic Advisor had 

predicted a growth for 2013-14 within 

5%. Industries have started feeling the 

pinch of the slow down. Automobile 

sector have started reducing their 

production quota. This will have 

automatic impact in tyre industries. All 

tyres manufacturing companies are also 

gradually heading for their production 

cut. 

The Indian tyre market for truck and 

bus radials is set to grow at a tremendous 

rate owing to the infrastructure 

development in India. In a bid to enter and 

win the Indian radial tyre market segment, 

Birla Tyre is set to increase the production 

of truck and bus radials by a whopping 

85 tonnes per day in the manufacturing 

plant at Haridwar in a move that would 

require an investment of INR 350 Crores. 

The tyre manufacturing plant in Balasore 

is slated to receive an investment of INR 

450 Crores to increase the output of 

passenger car radials by a figure of 80 

tonnes a day. 

Tyre companies both Indian and 

foreign, are all headed to capture the Indian 

tyre market with many international brands 

such as Continental, Bridgestone, 

Goodyear and Michelin setting up shop 

on the Indian soil. For Birla Tyres, the 

competition is stiff, with all the major global 

players as well as Indian tyre majors such 

as MRF and Apollo Tyres vying for the 

top spot and the largest market share. 

Basant Kumar Birla, CEO reflected 

on Birla Tyre’s achievements as he


75 

considered the challenges and 

opportunities that he discussed. His goal 

was to move beyond the sustainable supply 

chain and specific efforts to a more 

comprehensive sustainable supply chain 

strategy. He believed that Birla Tyre could 

and should retain its position in the industry 

as a sustainability leader, but what was the 

best path to reach that goal? His mind 

wandered back to some of the key 

questions: 

• How should Birla Tyre prioritize 

sustainability relative to other supply 

chain goals (e.g. providing the right 

thing at right time and minimizing 

cost)? 

• How should Birla Tyre reconcile 

different sustainability expectations 

and priorities around the world with 

the understanding that TPM, 

Japanese formula based upon zero 

accident, zero break done and zero 

down time so that the optimum 

production can be achieved with 

minimum cost which impact the 

global brand? 

• How should Birla Tyre selected lot 

of kaizen like (i) reduction of transit 

time of the vehicles (ii) reduction of 

inspection time have been selected 

and steps are being taken to reach 

the goal by bench marking in its 

sustainable supply chain efforts? 

•••

76 


CSR in TCS – A case study 

Case Study : II 


GM, TCS 

priya.sm@tcs.com 


(CSR) in Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) 

is the case of an organization blending its 

social responsibility into its functional 

agenda so that CSR is a stream that runs 

through the operational aspects rather than 

being superimposed as an add-on activity. 

This derives from the fact that the 

organization has made a clear assessment 

of its competencies and has strategically 

decided to contribute to society what it 

demonstrably is best at doing for its own 

business progress and development. 

By laying down clear parameters for 

intervention based on its operational 

strengths or core competencies TCS 

ensures efficiency in delivering on its social 

responsibility. It also ensures that the 

organization stays focused in direction and 

does not stray into areas that are better 

served by others with core experience and 

relevant expertise in those areas. Rather, 

TCS would seek to complement the social 

work undertaken by expert organizations 

by providing needed support. Eg. A health 

care system support for a health-service 

provider reaching out to needy populations 

or a system support for an organization/s 

reaching out to children in distress. In 

doing this, TCS strengthens the hands of 

the service provider in doing the socially 

required task by making it more efficient 

and more effective and yet does not digress 

into fields unrelated to its business 

operations. 

CSR in TCS is therefore an almost 

automatic extension of the work that the 

organization does and is embedded in the 

approach of the organization to the 

decisions it makes for its day to day 

functioning. Hence, rather than an 

afterthought, sound environmental 

techniques and all aspects of health and 

safety of all employees are founding 

principles for creating a work structure, 

regardless of where in the world the 

organization might be building its 

infrastructure. 

TCS has ensured that all its newer 

and upcoming constructions are LEED 

certified and make optimal use of 

resources, ensuring minimum damage and, 

if possible, positive contributions to the 

environment. Thus, TCS has preserved 

the natural environment and habitats within 

many of its office premises and has 

contributed to restoring and preserving 

heritage sites in the country. This stems out 

of a thinking that is not mere philanthropy 

but rather the deep rooted belief that 

environmental preservation and 

conservation is fundamental to long term


77 

sustainability of an organization – be it a 

company or for that matter a nation. It is 

not just socially responsible behavior but 

rather the survival instinct of a long-term 

player and clearly illustrates how CSR is 

intrinsic to business growth and prosperity. 

Also recognizing the largely sedentary 

nature of the job and its young work force, 

the organization has strategically made the 

fitness message a mantra that resonates 

within it – not by mere messaging but by 

putting into practice what it preaches. 

Besides regular mass circulation of relevant 

and educative literature on the subject, TCS 

senior management, led by the CEO, run 

in marathons that TCS sponsors across the 

world, which bring in sponsorship income 

for social causes in addition to the primary 

objective of ingraining a fitness culture in 

employees. These marathons serve to 

generate social awareness and societal 

participation in keeping fit and healthy. Thus, 

although this activity qualifies as being 

socially responsible it also contributes to 

organizational health and sustainability - for 

ultimately TCS is an extension of the people 

who work for it and a strong and healthy 

workforce is a strong and healthy 

organization. 

‘Fit for Life’ is another initiative with 

the lens trained internally on employees to 

motivate them to perform physical 

activities, which the organization 

recognizes and rewards by a 

corresponding monetary contribution to a 

social cause. A fit work force certainly 

contributes to higher productivity for the 

organization but equally importantly 

contributes to a fitter and healthier society, 

where disease and illness are kept away 

through pro-active measures. 

Staying with the workforce, ‘TCS- 

Maitree’, meaning friendship, is another 

core CSR strategy built around 

channelizing the energy and goodwill of a 

huge resource pool into socially relevant 

and productive activities. Through 

organizing regular events for employees 

and their families, ‘TCS-Maitree’ offers an 

avenue for TCS to embrace all family 

members of its employees in a feeling of 

belonging. But it goes beyond…….it also 

offers an opportunity for all so-inclined 

employees to volunteer their efforts 

towards activities that would result in social 

good or environmental benefit. 

With a total employee strength of over 

2,50,000 employees spread across 43 

countries of the world small acts of 

volunteering add up to a significant amount 

of social good and help in creating a positive 

environment within the organization. 

The essence of TCS-Maitree is to 

bring associates together to care and share 

in the spirit of friendship in the TCS 

community, and then reach out with the 

same spirit to the less privileged 

communities and environment. This serves 

multiples goals : of inculcating a spirit of 

giving in a young and impressionable mass 

of people - values that will stand them in 

good stead for life -, channelizing their 

energy and enthusiasm into productive 

work – rather than the alternatives of it 

being wasted or mis-utilized - and 

engineering social upliftment in the process.

78 


Working together on social causes results 

in bonding and friendship beyond the 

confines of the work environment and 

inculcates a sense of pride within employees 

as regard the social values embodied in the 

organization for which he/she works. This 

shared value between an individual and an 

organization does not play an insignificant 

role in curbing attrition – thus once again 

establishing the link between social 

responsibility and business prosperity. 

TCS-Maitree serves as an excellent 

example of engaging with employees to try 

to effect change at various levels – 

individual, societal and organizational. 

TCS-Maitree provides employees with a 

platform that, at the minimum, nudges them 

to think socially and environmentally and 

at its best has the potential to effect social 

change where it operates. 

Activities under TCS-Maitree range 

from volunteering to improve the education 

standards of a school for underprivileged 

children through supplementary classes – 

which is offering one’s time - to blood 

donation – which is offering of oneself to 

serve others. Volunteering efforts could 

result in the planting of trees – to care for 

the environment – or could result in clothing 

the disadvantaged – to care for fellow 

human beings. The range of activities 

engaged in are diverse and causes served 

vary as per the context in which the 

organization is set and the geography in 

which it is operating but the basic premise 

remains the same – ‘do your bit in 

whichever way you can’. Whatever the 

contribution nothing is considered 

insignificant or too small - as ‘little drops 

an ocean make’! 

Another strand of CSR that is 

seamlessly woven into business operations 

and ingrained into all TCS employees is the 

ethics and value system that the Tata Group 

embodies and practices. In terms of number 

of employees, composition of its of work 

force, locations and variety of work 

undertaken, TCS, as an organization, is very 

diverse. However, any employee, anywhere 

in the world, regardless of his/her nationality 

or ethnicity would unfailing display the Tata 

values and ethics in both their dealings with 

colleagues or with outsiders. This imbibing 

of the Tata culture by such a widely diverse 

and geographically spread out resource pool 

is part of the CSR strategy that is 

embedded in the organization’s way of 

functioning. It is a binding legacy that the 

organization takes forward very seriously 

as a social responsibility towards all its 

stakeholders, the first of which are the 

employees themselves. Stakeholder 

interactions need to reflect the practiced 

ethics and value systems so as to set an 

example for societal behavior. TCS 

considers this an intrinsic part of its social 

responsibility - where each individual in the 

organization represents the organization and 

has to unfailingly display the values and ethics 

the organization stands by. Setting the 

highest standards of integrity and living by 

the standards set is part of TCS’s corporate 

social responsibility and TCS has an 

obligation to all stakeholders including 

vendors, suppliers, service providers, clients 

and society at large in this regard.


79 

As a technology-driven knowledgebased 

industry TCS as part of its CSR 

strategy regularly interfaces and contributes 

to its fraternity’s resource and knowledge 

pool through academic interface 

programmes, participating in events relating 

to science and technology, contributing to 

the field of education and innovation and 

providing its perspective as a thought leader 

when its opinion is sought. This is a natural 

extension of playing the role of a 

responsible citizen, in a position to 

influence thought and effect positive 

change, within its range of expertise. 

In the same vein, TCS conducts IT 

Wiz - a rural information technology (IT) 

quiz - India’s biggest quiz for school 

students studying between classes 8 and 

12. The programme aims to build and 

enhance IT awareness among rural 

students, besides keeping them abreast of 

the latest developments in technology. IT 

plays an integral role in today’s society and 

economy and is a key enabler for success 

in diverse fields. In becoming a national 

benchmark for the level of research, the 

intensity with which teams compete and 

sheer participation numbers TCS’s IT Wiz 

has been able to reach out to and enhance 

knowledge levels of a vast segment of the 

student community, besides teachers, 

parents and educational Institutions across 

the country starting from the state of 

Karnataka and moving to the 12 cities 

across India - Ahmedabad, Bangalore, 

Bhubaneswar, Chennai, Coimbatore, 

Delhi, Hyderabad, Kolkata, Kochi, 

Lucknow, Pune and Mumbai. This year 

marks the introduction of two new cities - 

Indore and Nagpur. This, again, is a CSR 

activity that is mutually beneficial for TCS 

and for society – bringing them closer for 

serving common goals – a potential 

resource pool and potential employment 

prospects, respectively. 

TCS also recognizes that it has the 

opportunity and ability to contribute to 

nation building through the use of its core 

competency. By strategic intervention, 

through use of technology to improve the 

efficiency and effectiveness of systems of 

public use, TCS can play its part in 

improving services that impact peoples’ 

lives. 

Literacy is one such example of a 

flagship programme based on corecompetency. 

TCS recognizes that literacy is the 

foundation of a knowledge-based society 

and that the Indian population, especially 

women, are not benefiting from 

developmental programmes largely due to 

their being illiterate. In line with this, the 

organization has used its technological 

expertise to develop a tool for removing 

the scourge of illiteracy effectively and 

efficiently, by cutting down on time and 

improving on the delivery system. This has 

the potential for effecting wide-spread 

change in a country where illiteracy 

contributes significantly to social ills. 

For tackling and rooting out adult 

illiteracy TCS is partnering with Saakshar 

Bharat at the Government of India level 

and various state governments. The Adult

80 


Literacy software is available in 9 Indian 

languages and has already impacted many 

lives, especially women, with the powerful 

tool of literacy. 

On invitation, TCS is also partnering 

with international governments to spread 

literacy in other parts of the world which 

suffer from low literacy rates. 

Another tool of potential widespread 

reach and impact is M-Krishi – a 

technology based mobile service to the 

farmer providing him/her with useful 

information to better crop yields. 

Other such technological 

interventions for societal benefit include a 

speech-therapy software for cleft palate 

patients of operation Smile Train, a 

software for Mumbai Mobile Creches - 

to track children of migrant workers to 

ensure their safety as well as continuity in 

their education and many others. 

As part of the Tata Group, TCS also 

works on the mandate of the Tata Group 

on Affirmative Action. 

Recognizing the disparity in society 

and the need to focus on neglected 

sections, the Tata group has framed an 

affirmative action policy to reach out and 

help the vulnerable populations. TCS is 

playing a significant role in facilitating the 

fructification of this policy by providing 

employability training and employment 

opportunities for such candidates. 

TCS has reached its training 

resources out to distant and backward 

regions of the country seeking to offer 

these populations an opportunity to be 

mainstreamed. Training and recruitment 

teams have been deployed to these 

neglected parts of the country to try and 

spread the reach of the social programme 

being carried out. 

Inclusion is a very important agenda 

in the work that TCS does on CSR. The 

CSR strategy constantly tries to align its 

work opportunities with the inclusion 

agenda so as to give diversity a firm footing 

within the organization and also to create 

impact in areas where it is operating. 

Within the organization TCS is focused 

on gender and diversity – trying to strike 

the best balance between empowering 

diverse groups within the overall context of 

operational efficiency and, in fact, seeking 

to benefit from the varying perspectives that 

such individuals might bring in taking the 

organization forward. The organization by 

design is slowly but surely evolving into a 

heterogeneous work force, where any 

individual regardless of their social 

dimensions has the right to speak out and 

be counted. 

To generate awareness and create 

impact regarding diversity TCS has a 

programme for training specially-abled 

persons in Mumbai, striving to mainstream 

them through job opportunities post the 

training. TCS has also been sponsoring the 

‘WE CARE’ film festival – a festival that 

highlights issues and challenges relating to 

disability and the need for sensitivity in 

dealing with such issues. 

Across the world, TCS tailors its 

corporate social responsibility to best meet


81 

the requirements of the concerned 

geography, so as to remain relevant and 

participate in the sustainability of the 

economy in which it is operating. For e.g. 

recognizing that heart is the number one 

factor contributing to mortality in the USA 

and the 2 nd important factor in Canada, 

TCS is partnering with American Heart 

Association (AHA) in the American Heart 

Start initiative with a view to raise funds 

for research and build awareness in the 

local community on how to reduce the risk 

of heart disease. In Australia, TCS is 

partnering with the Australian Red Cross 

in running blood donation camps for TCS 

associates. In Edinburgh, TCS organized 

cricket tournaments that have raised funds 

for research on Blood Cancer. On the other 

hand, in Germany, TCS focuses its CSR 

efforts on education centres for children 

with special needs. In Hungary, too, TCS 

organizes Child Camps for underprivileged 

children. In China, TCS works on Library 

Projects to facilitate education for less 

privileged children through books and CD 

donations. These are just a few examples 

of the kind of CSR activities that TCS 

engages in world-wide. This list cannot be 

exhaustive as there are many, many such 

examples in each country where TCS 

operates, some of which are even region 

specific within a particular country, based 

on the locations of the TCS offices there. 

Thus, though the dimensions of CSR 

may vary and the activities carried out be 

diverse, the context of CSR in TCS is set 

on the principle of sustainability, which 

••• 

experience suggests can only carry forward 

generically as the organization grows, 

develops and strives for newer horizons if 

the activities performed are part of the core 

functioning of the organization. As opposed 

to set of tasks to fulfill a goal and reach a 

target – which might achieve which it had 

set out to do but might end there. 

TCS views CSR as a long term 

obligation to all its stakeholders, from the 

immediate and tangible – its own 

employees - to the distant and intangible 

– society at large in the country in which it 

is operating. As an organization which 

takes this role, of contributing to the 

betterment of society through its presence 

in that society, very seriously, TCS has 

strategically woven CSR into its operations 

to ensure that social good is delivered as 

an outcome - in the very same way that its 

business profits are. With this approach 

the spotlight on CSR within the 

organization never wavers as it is given its 

rightful place within the organization’s 

framework of operations. 

As a case study TCS, as an 

organization, presents an intrinsic mode of 

CSR where the activities performed by the 

organization that serve a social purpose 

are meshed with the organization’s business 

goals and method of functioning and where 

CSR is not divorced from business 

operations but rather seeks to strengthen 

and enhance the business’s growth and its 

forward trajectory. It is a case of mutually 

beneficial and harmonious CSR that is selffulfilling 

and therefore sustainable.

82 


Case Study : III 


Arjun Singh 

Domain Lead, Beroe Inc. 

arjun@beroe-inc.com 

Pranaav S. Chandy 

Domain Lead, Beroe Inc. 

pranaav@beroe-inc.com 

Angad Singh 

Senior Research Analyst, Beroe Inc. 

angad@beroe-inc.com 

The importance of assisting in building 

a strong social base for a better future and 

laying the foundation for a better society 

has gained attention from all aspects as well 

as corners in life. Corporate social 

responsibility is also one part of this 

attention. From being a medium to give 

back in a small way to the world, to 

becoming a forefront in impacting social 

welfare, this activity has indeed taken 

center stage in the space of different social 

benefit areas. It is simply not just about 

branding or marketing alone. Today, with 

the infusion of a more socially aware 

workforce coupled with a deeper 

understanding and appreciation for the 

need to cater to the needy has driven CSR 

work to a whole new level. What has also 

fueled this area is the availability of a large 

corporate corpus to help bring in that 

strong impact we all aim for. A mixture of 

these dynamic enablers has contributed to 

the emergence of a powerful social tool 

that in itself has the ability to touch and 

transform lives worldwide. 

Need of the Hour – Making CSR 

Initiatives Sustainable 

Yes, there is no doubt on the fact that 

there are several areas that need attention. 

However, once you get into this vast ocean 

of social welfare it is easy to fall into the 

trap of where to start and what depths to 

reach. Tactically speaking, the approach 

would be to align organization goals, weigh 

in the factor of available surplus (both 

monetary as well as workforce for CSR), 

analyze the effectiveness of the area of 

work and see if the initiatives in itself can 

help deliver the value that is intended. The 

purpose of this paper is not to design an 

approach or find a solution on how to align 

CSR goals, but to go to a step post once 

CSR is incepted and the theme designed. 

The biggest challenge is that as a selfsustaining 

CSR arm how to make initiatives 

sustainable and also to understand at which 

point to alienate from activities that can be 

detrimental or non-constructive to the core 

work.


83 

How we do it at Beroe 

Beroe’s CSR arm Samavesh, which 

stands for ‘inclusion’, has worked since 

its inception in 2009 in delivering societal 

value through empowering people with 

education as the medium. Samavesh is a 

completely self-nominated team with a 

group of young, energetic individuals 

driven solely by their passion for social 

well-being. Our activities have centered on 

working with schools with depleted or 

limited fund availability in addressing core 

issues that help tackle day to day functions 

that in the long run impede delivery of value 

to students. The work touches areas of 

teaching sustenance, infrastructural 

enablement and scholarships. We also do 

work in the area of green sustenance and 

have made spending time with the elderly 

and specially-abled an integral part of our 

CSR practice. In all the work we do the 

challenge is not on the execution or getting 

the operational framework of the activities 

in place, but in making initiatives become 

sustainable i.e. how the programs we 

design can become ones that deliver value 

over a longer period of time so that more 

areas of social welfare can be explored. 

The experience of working with multiple 

schools has helped us better understand 

the right approach (in the context of 

Samavesh’s approach to CSR) to 

making initiatives become ones that after 

a while become independent and 

sustainable. 

Mentioned below are some key steps 

that are considered for every CSR initiative 

managed

84 


1 

Assess the value delivered through the initiative 

Treat each activity as a business unit with 

ROI defined in terms of the value delivered 

and not profit made. Budget allocation and 

release should be quick and smooth. 

2 

Managing Operations – have a small focused team 

Yes, everyone wants to be a part of 

things, but one must look to have smaller 

teams (size would of course depend on the 

nature of the work and investment involved, 

however, the more lean the team size is, the 

more agile the operation becomes). This is 

to ensure that overcrowding of resources 

does not take place as it could lead to 

multiple heads involved in executing tasks 

that may not need too many resources, and 

this in turn could slow down the process. 

Consider an e.g. where there is a team 

involved in sending out communications both 

internally and externally. Now imagine if the 

work can be distributed in a manner that in 

all a team size of 5-10 can together carry 

out the designing of the content, editing the 

same, maintaining relationships with external 

media partners and sending out the 

communications. Now if we bring in more


85 

resources in this department, there could 

be a situation where too many people and 

views are involved in designing and sending, 

thus delaying output. This in turn can result 

in multiple stakeholders within the team 

getting involved in getting the work 

completed and subsequently making a 

simple operation complex and chaotic. 

However, smaller team sizes do not mean 

teams where the responsibilities are thrust 

open to just a few heads to manage all 

activities. Smaller teams actually reflect lean 

units where the right numbers of people are 

executing their roles and responsibilities. 

The other advantage of having smaller 

teams execute work is that responsibilities 

can be given more strongly to individuals 

and that additional resources can always 

be channelized towards more CSR 

activities. 

Block out areas that can be taken 

care by benefit receiving groups on their 

own. Often when aid in various forms 

comes there is a tendency to push for 

more. Yes, there is always scope for 

more, but, sometimes it can become the 

nature of these groups to be over 

dependent on external help. As long as 

complete reliance on external help exists, 

the activities and initiatives will not 

become self-sustainable and this can 

affect long term value benefit. 

3 

Self-sustenance – Managing the transition 

And the most important one – after a 

point withdrawal of day to day involvement 

from the activity; this is realized by 

transferring more responsibility to the 

team/leader(s) involved in executing the 

work from the side which receives the help. 

However, though initially this could look 

like a step which indicates that the 

involvement from the CSR units may 

become one simply associated as a cheque 

book donation; in true perspective this is 

not the case. What happens is that, 

– as a CSR unit, initially the role is 

not limited to only assist in the activities, 

but also to train respective groups receiving 

the benefit in terms of how to execute the 

projects, map the value being added, 

expand the horizon of the impact being 

delivered etc. Doing this helps the benefit 

receiving groups understand how their 

roles are critical in making the 

transformational work take the shape that 

was visualized 

– the executing side receiving the 

CSR benefit/assistance is responsible for 

showing a ROI in terms of value and has 

to periodically show how the investments 

are being channelized 

And lastly, the CSR unit only reduces 

its involvement in day to day work, 

however, constantly monitors the work 

and progress; the team has the freedom 

to step in at junctures when it feels the 

work has lost focus or momentum.

86 


Case Study: Work with a local school 

in the field of education and 

infrastructure 

1.1 Key Areas of Concern 

School A is operational in a lower 

income group colony set up by removing 

the slums around that area. In excess of 

800 students from Grade 1 to 10 study. 

The major challenges for the school are 

1.non availability of Tamil and Math’s 

teacher due to lack of funds 

2.no drinking water facility available 

3.constructing a water tank, 

establishing appropriate piping 

connections to washrooms, and 

setting up a platform for taps for 

hand wash 

Once the feasibility of working with 

the school was completed and work 

started, the CSR team observed that the 

school authorities played a passive role in 

terms of supporting the CSR team in its 

activities. The school was completely 

dependent on the team for all activities right 

from suggesting local vendors to 

Samavesh Team – 8 

Members 

municipality approval for construction. In 

the case of finding a teacher for the subjects 

mentioned, the process got delayed as the 

teachers found by the CSR team did not 

fit into the school requirement. 

However, the advantage the CSR 

team had was that we had a team of 8 

members on this activity and that the team 

was clear that the school needed to also 

play an equally important role in making the 

initiative a successful one. The approach 

taken was to give the entire activity an 

entrepreneurial direction. The team was split 

into 3 groups; teacher recruitment, 

infrastructure development and purchase. 

For all the teams there were 2 internal 

stakeholders from the school side. The 

overview of the execution of activities from 

the school side was driven by the head 

mistress, while on the CSR front the team 

coordinated in getting the work completed. 

The team structure now was designed in 

line with getting stakeholders from the 

school involved in the operations. The Head 

Mistress’ role was a critical one in terms of 

getting the school members to provide the 

right support for the CSR units. 

School A 

Teacher Recruitment - 2 

Head Mistress 

Infrastructure 

Development - 3 

Purchase - 3 

Vice Principal – Support on 

Teacher Recruitment 

Admin/Physical Education 

Teacher (PET) – Raw Material 

and Labor Management


87 

1.2 Solution Roadmap 

1. Purchase and Infrastructure 

Development 

The purchase and infrastructure 

teams coordinated internally to 

help provide the necessary 

foundation for getting the work 

completed. 

• A total sum of Rs. 1.25 lacs was 

allocated towards building the 

tank, tap system, piping and 

labor salary. The infrastructure 

team coordinated with the PET 

in organizing the labor. The 3 

member team worked with the 

head mistress in getting the 

municipality approval cleared. 

Once this was done, the work 

on executing the project was put 

in place. A time period of 3 

months was set as the maximum 

limit in terms of getting the 

project completed. 

• The first 1.5-2 months saw the 

team involve itself more 

regularly in getting the plans 

approved, purchasing the 

material and disbursing the 

salaries. However, at all points 

of the project the team ensured 

that the PET, who was the 

school stakeholder in the project 

also played a critical role in all 

the work carried out. The goal 

was to make the PET well 

versed with the operational 

aspects of the project; so that 

once the work was completed 

he played a vital role in 

managing the maintenance and 

sustainability of the project. 

• As the PET worked with the 

team his understanding of the 

way things were executed laid 

the foundation for us to reduce 

our involvement in the day to day 

function of the project. The last 

month and a half saw the PET 

become more independent in 

getting the work executed, while 

the CSR unit now involved itself 

in monitoring the progress and 

managing the funds. 

• By the end of the 3 rd month the 

project was completed and the 

school could see how its 

involvement in the execution 

process helped smoothen the 

entire process. What also came 

out of this entire activity was that 

the PET got some students on 

board to help monitor the 

maintenance and report to the 

CSR team regularly on the 

condition of the infrastructure 

and repairs if needed. Making 

the school feel a sense of self 

accomplishment and a direct 

connect with the output has now 

resulted in the school carrying 

out most maintenance 

operations on its own in the last 

3 months, while the CSR unit 

monitors their progress, 

disburses the monthly

88 


maintenance charges and 

involves itself when critical 

aspects need to be addressed. 

• The 2 nd phase of this project has 

also begun, where we are 

working on getting an RO 

drinking water system involved. 

The best part about the activity 

previously carried out is that 

now more and more students 

have begun supporting the PET 

in taking care of the project 

successfully completed earlier 

and is a direct result of school 

stakeholders appreciating the 

need to be active in the work 

carried out. Additionally, 

already within the first few days 

of the 2 nd phase the CSR team 

has seen the school stakeholders 

take up more ownership in 

getting different pieces of work 

functional, thus making the 

progress even faster and 

smoother. 

2. Teacher Recruitment 

Recruiting the teachers was a 

difficult process as there were very 

few people who were ready to 

work in that area and the school 

authorities left the complete 

selection process to the CSR unit. 

As a result on many occasions 

there were expectation 

mismatches happening. A total of 

Rs 1.2 lacs/year was allocated for 

the 2 teachers. 

• The vice principal (VP) was 

made the internal stakeholder 

responsible for recruiting the 

teacher. The initial attempts to 

hire teachers for Math’s and 

Tamil were not successful as on 

most occasions the teachers 

identified by the CSR team were 

not in line with the school needs. 

• Thus, once we had the VP 

involved, she played a key role 

in getting other teachers 

involved in identifying potential 

hires, while the CSR team 

coordinated with various NGO 

groups to identify the teachers. 

At all points the VP was kept in 

the loop and this helped fasten 

the process of hiring a teacher. 

• The outcome was that the Tamil 

teacher found also helped 

support the physical education 

training for girls, while the 

Math’s teacher agreed to work 

with the school for at least 2 

years. 

• As long as the CSR unit worked 

independently in the initial phase 

the school was unable to see 

what needed to be done to get 

the right person for their 

requirements. Having the VP on 

board with the head mistress 

following up with the internal 

stake holder created a sense of 

urgency to hire the teachers and 

get the curriculum gain


89 

momentum. The need was 

directed towards getting 

someone to help the children get 

their syllabus completed and be 

ready in time for examinations, 

and this helped hire the right 

people faster than the earlier 

attempts. Now, the VP 

constantly monitors the progress 

of the teachers as well as how 

much the students are 

benefitting. The CSR team gets 

the feedback regularly and 

assesses the progress. The 

funds are also released by the 

team monthly, while the head 

mistress and VP manage the 

expectations of the school and 

the CSR units. 

• The syllabus of the students is 

on the verge of completion 

next month and students have 

begun showing remarkable 

improvement in their studies in 

these subjects. 

1.3 Key Learning and Value Delivered 

As a CSR team the approach was not only 

to monitor the progress but also map the ROI 

in terms of value derived. The team followed 

the following check points at all times:

90 


1.Map out parameters to measure 

ROI in terms of value delivered. 

For example how much the 

students had benefited from the 

facilities put in place, progress in 

academics, level of participation 

of students and staff in the 

activities, etc. helped evaluate this 

progress. 

2.Whenever there were additional 

requests for support on other 

areas the teams assessed on if the 

request could actually be taken 

care by the school itself or if the 

request was indeed one that 

needed to be addressed. The 

feedback from the teams helped 

the school get insights into areas 

where they could work on their 

own and also push back areas 

that were not relevant. This also 

helped keep the focus on the core 

area and distractions were 

minimal. 

3.Internal stakeholders were made 

responsible of the activities being 

carried out. The importance of the 

funds to be channelized appropriately 

was ensured at all times. 

4.Timelines were strictly adhered to, 

while quality of output was not 

compromised at any point of time. 

Keeping all these parameters in 

check helped execute the activities in the 

school smoothly and well within timelines. 

Additionally, the CSR team was successful 

in making the group receiving the benefit 

develop a sense of responsibility and 

accomplishment from the projects carried 

out. 

Thus, based Beroe’s experience with 

CSR and making CSR sustainable, we 

believe that moving towards self-reliance 

and enabling groups receiving the external 

assistance to follow this path helps bring 

in sustainability in social welfare activities 

over a longer period of time. 

The Authors are with Beroe Consulting India Pvt. Ltd. 

ASV Chandilya Towers, Ground Floor 

No. 263/3, B1 A1. Door No. 5/397, Rajiv Gandhi Salai (OMR) 

Okkiyam Thoraipakkam, Chennai – 600 097 

•••

91 

Notes to Contributors 

The journal will include thematic and empirical research papers in the field of Business 

Management and allied areas, with emphasis on pragmatic orientation. 

Before submitting the paper for publication, please ensure that this paper has not been 

sent for publication or published elsewhere, until you receive a communication from our 

side. Once a manuscript is submitted for publication, it will be screened by the editorial 

board to check:1.fitness of the paper for publication in the journal, & 2.originality/ plagiarism 

(through software). 

After the preliminary screening it will then be blind-reviewed by two independent national/ 

international reviewers, for the scientific merit, readability and interest. Unaccepted 

manuscript will not be returned; however, you will be communicated accordingly. 

Accepted authors will be given one hard-copy of the journal and one soft-copy. 

The manuscript should be neatly typed in double space on an A-4 sheet with 1 inch space 

on all sides in 12 Times Roman size font. The manuscript should be of maximum up to 

5500 words, or 20 pages. 

The references, as illustrated below, should be in American Psychological Association 

(APA) format, 5th Edition: 

Reference from Journal: 

Alkaike, H. (1987). Factor analysis and AIC. Psychometrica, 52, 317-332. 

Reference from Edited book: 

Browne, M. W. & Cudeck, R. (1999). Effects of Organizational Climate and Citizenship 

Behavior on Organizational Effectiveness. In K.A. Bollen & J.S. Long (Eds.) Human 

Resource Management (pp. 136-147). Newsbury Park, CA: Sage. 

Reference from Book: 

Luthans, F. (2002). Organisational Behaviour. New Delhi: McGraw-Hill International. 

Booth, W. C., Colomb, G. G., & Williams, J. M. (1995). The craft of research. Chicago: 

University of Chicago Press. 

Reference from online resources: 

Hacker, D. (1997). Research and documentation in the electronic age. Boston: Bedford 

Books. Retrieved October 6, 1998, from http://www.bedfordbooks.com/index.html 

Morse, S. S. (1995). Factors in the emergence of infectious diseases. Emerging Infectious 

Diseases, 1(1). Retrieved October 10, 1998, from http://www.cdc.gov/ncidod/EID/ 

eid.htm

Smith, E. E. (2001). Internet term paper mills: The case for mandatory expulsion 

[Electronic version]. Journal of Crime and Punishment, 6, 123–139. 

Newspaper Article 

Goleman, D. (1991, October 24). Battle of insurers vs. therapists: Cost control pitted 

against proper care. New York Times, pp. D1, D9. 

Newspaper Article (Online) 

Markoff, J. (1996, June 5). Voluntary rules proposed to help insure privacy for Internet 

users. New York Times. Retrieved April 1, 1996, from http://www.nytimes.com/library/ 

cyber/week/yo5dat.html 

Newspaper Article (No Author) 

Undisclosed settlement reached out of court in Michigan Biodyne civil suit. (1992, March 

1). Psychiatric Times, p. 16. 

Conference Paper (Published): 

Kuroda, S. Y. (1988). Whether we agree or not: A comparative syntax of English and 

Japanese. In W. J. Poser (Ed.), Papers from the second international workshop on 

Japanese syntax (pp. 103–143). Stanford, CA: CSLI. 

Dissertation: 

Downey, D. B. (1992). Family structure, parental resources, and educational outcomes. 

Ph.D. dissertation, Department of Sociology, Indiana University, Bloomington, IN. 

Checklists to be adhered to: 

1. Cover Letter with a note on Title of paper, with contributor(s)’ complete address. 

2. Abstract of 100-120 words, with title of paper (in Separate Sheet/ page) 

3. Full-text of article (with title of paper, but not with authors name/ affiliation) 

4. Tables and figures/ graphs should be given in the end. 

Manuscript Submission: 

Please email all manuscripts only in MS-word/ RTF format to: editor@ksom.ac.in 

Inquiries for current and back issues: 

The queries can be addressed to: 

Editor, Parikalpana (KIIT Journal of Management), 

School of Management, 

KIIT University, Bhubaneswar – 751024 

ODISHA, India 

Or, email the soft copies to: editor@ksom.ac.in

How to Subscribe KIIT Journal of Management ? 

The journal can be subscribed by sending the filled in form with appropriate demand 

draft of any nationalized bank drawn in favor of KIIT University, Bhubaneswar, payable 

at Bhubaneswar. Please add Rs. 50 for outstation cheques. The subscription fee includes 

mailing charges. 

The Subscription should be sent to: 

The Editor, Parikalpana, KIIT Journal of Management, 

School of Management, 

KIIT University, Bhubaneswar – 751024 Odisha, India. 

Subscription In India, Nepal & Bhutan (INRs) ` Other Countries (US $) 

Rates 

1 Year 5 Years 1 Year 5 Years 

For Individuals Rs. 300 Rs. 1400 60 275 

For Institutions Rs. 300 Rs. 1400 90 425 

SUBSCRIPTION FORM 

1. Name of the Subscriber: ……………………………………………………………….. 

2. Designation: ……………………………………………………………………………….. 

3. Organization/Institution: ……………………………………………………………… 

4. Postal Address: …………………………………………………………………………… 

Pin Code:………………… Tel/Fax with STD Code………………………………… 

E-mail: ……………………………………………………………………………………… 

5. Cheque/Demand Draft No.: ……………………………… Amount: …………… 

Bank drawn on: ………………………………… Date: ……………………………… 

6. Subscription: Please Tick: One Year Five years 

Signature & Seal

National Management Convention (NMC) is an annual academic event of KIIT School of 

Management (KIIT University), where National Seminars are held on different themes. CSR 

was the theme for the last (6th) NMC. Selected papers, from among those presented in the 

last NMC, have been published in this special issue of Parikalpana.

About the School: 

School of Management, KIIT University is a constituent unit of the KIIT University, 

established under section 3 of the UGC Act, 1956. This is the 20th year of its existence. 

In these years, the school has made rapid progress to attain a position of eminence in 

the field of management education. In several prestigious rankings – this includes 

those by Outlook, Career 360, Open C-Fore – KSOM has been consistently ranked 

among the top B-Schools in India and as one of the finest in Eastern India. It has been 

rated in A Grade by National Accreditation and Assessment Council (NAAC). The 

school has tie-ups with world leaders such as SAP and Dassault Systems for offering 

highly industry-focused Technology Management courses. The school now offers 

BBA, MBA & Ph.D. programmes. 

School of Management 

KIIT University 

Campus-7, Bhubaneswar-751024, Odisha, India 

Tel: 0674 – 2375 700 / 780, Tel (Fax): 0674 – 2725 278 

Email: Email: editor@ksom.ac.in Website: www.ksom.ac.in

Download - School of Management, KIIT University

Create successful ePaper yourself

Delete template?

Save as template?